Ángel Llàcer has reappeared completely transformed. Not only for his physical condition, still marked by the after-effects of the serious infection he contracted on a trip to Vietnam, but also for the way he now faces life. The actor, theater director and judge of Tu cara me suena has shared the hardest experience of his life, an illness that pushed him to the limit, left him hospitalized for more than a month, forced him to undergo surgery four times and brought him face to face with death.
“I’ve been a year and a half complicated because I’ve been very sick,” he acknowledged this Saturday at an Atresmedia event held in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. And yet, he assures that the learning he has gained from the process has changed him forever: “The balance is super positive, because I feel more here and now, more relaxed, more relaxed, more willing to talk to people, more affectionate, I don’t stress about the things that will come…”.
A year and a half on the brink
Llàcer traveled to Vietnam without imagining that he would return with a bacterium called shigella, which triggered an infection so severe that it nearly cost him his leg… and his life. “I had to learn to walk and my only goal was to put one foot in front of the other,” he explains, using that process as a metaphor for how he now goes about his day-to-day life: step by step, without rushing, without pressure.
The infection progressed so quickly that Llàcer had to say goodbye to his parents for fear of not surviving. Between operating rooms, antibiotics and pain, he went through one of the most traumatic episodes of his life. He himself confesses it bluntly: “I saw death, of course I saw it, and I said hello… and goodbye! and I left…. The truth is that the moment of almost dying was traumatic, and afterwards the recovery was hard“.
Even then, however, he never allowed himself to fall into self-pity: “I’ve never leaned on complaining or whining; on the contrary, it’s always like, come on, ‘go ahead,’ and that’s taught me that I’m pretty strong, really.”
A new way of living
The after-effects are still there, but Llàcer feels reborn. He says he now lives with a serenity that he didn’t have before. He takes things calmly, enjoys conversations, work and day-to-day life more. He says that the experience has taught him to prioritize what is essential: “I’m much calmer and things don’t rush me anymore“.
He has spent a good part of his recovery in the Catalan region of La Garrocha, where he feels like a neighbor and finds the peace he needs. There, surrounded by nature, he has been able to see something that touches him deeply: the number of people who love and support him.
A wish for the future: health and nothing else.
Llàcer is very clear about his request for next year: “I’d like to see the following year’s event.Health, I always ask for health now. To 2026, 27, 28, 29…. I ask the same. Health, tranquility and love “.
And he sums up what he now considers to be the greatest possible success: “There is nothing better than being with your loved ones, doing things that interest you and enjoying your projects. That’s it, nothing else. In the moment, wherever you are, be at ease. This is the greatest success one can have “.
The experience that almost took his life is today the engine of a renewed Angel Llàcer, more aware and more grateful than ever. A brutal lesson that, as he himself says, has turned him into “a new man”.
