Harry Potter star Miriam Margolyes has undergone major heart surgery after a health scare earlier in the year.
Speaking on the Table Manners podcast, the actress, 82, revealed she had a transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) using a cow’s valve.
“I’ve got a cow’s heart now,” she told hosts Jessie and Lennie Ware.
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“Well, not the whole heart. I’ve had an aortic valve replaced by a cow’s aortic valve,” she explained.
The Little Shop of Horrors star opened up about the “refined” procedure, admitting it prevented her from having to undergo open heart surgery.
“I don’t know how common it is. I’d never heard of that operation,” she told the podcast hosts.
“But it saves you from having open heart surgery, which would be infinitely more invasive.”
After being asked by host Lennie if it was a “keyhole” operation, Margolyes explained the procedure requires doctors to place “two little holes in your groin.”
“One in each groin and then they shoved this thing through,” she continued.
“And I don’t know how they pull it up but they sort of pull it up with stereos.”
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“And then when it comes to the point, when it’s in your heart, they pull a little string and it goes pow!”
‘And lo and behold, your artery or your aortic valve is shoved unceremoniously to the side,” she said.
The health update comes after the actress confirmed in June that she was facing heart surgery after being rushed to hospital the month before.
The Harry Potter alum told British Vogue she was preparing to have a stent fitted.
“I’m not terrified,” she told the magazine in June, adding that as she got older she thinks “about death a lot”.
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In May, Margolyes was hospitalised at The Royal Brompton Hospital with a chest infection.
In a Facebook post, the star revealed she had been admitted for a transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) before coming down with a chest infection.
Margolyes is best known for her role as Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter film series.
In 2013, the actress officially became an Australian citizen.
Years later in 2020, the British-Australian star released a series called Almost Australian which chronicled her Australian citizenship and journey to discover what being Australian really means.