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The Wanted singer Max George has revealed he wrote his will from a hospital bed before having surgery for a heart condition.
“I thought I was going to die,” the 36-year-old told The Sun.
He said he was so convinced he wouldn’t make it that he took out his phone and started spelling out what to do with his assets.
George, from Manchester, had the operation before Christmas during which he was fitted with a pacemaker to keep his heart beating regularly.
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Max George said his girlfriend Maisie Smith, pictured here in 2022, was the first person he saw after surgery
In the interview, George shared his fears after doctors first discovered the issues with his heart.
“If I could go from being absolutely on top of the world to being told ‘the bottom part of your heart isn’t working’, I kept thinking in my head, ‘Well, what if the top half stops working overnight?”‘
He said he was worrying about his family and his girlfriend, actress Maisie Smith, 23, in case he did not pull through.
“When you get told that, you really realise what your responsibilities are. I’ve got a partner, Maisie, I’ve got a family. I’ve got two little nephews and all of that stuff really comes to the front of it all.”
He pinpointed 13 December as the “worst” day, as his blood pressure and heart rate both dropped.
The Wanted’s Max George has pacemaker fittedThe Wanted singer needs urgent heart-block surgeryMax George in hospital with heart ‘issues'”It was quite close that night, it really felt like my neck was closing up and that’s when the sort of panic really kicked in. I felt like I was dying,” he said.
But his surgery date was then confirmed for 18 December, leaving him “absolutely buzzing”.
The operation took around three hours, and he was greeted by his girlfriend when he woke up.
“The first face I saw was Maisie’s and I remember that being really nice – like that was the first time I actually felt like a real person again, and I had a heart,” he said.
‘The best Christmas present’
George, who has been keeping his fans posted on social media throughout, called his new pacemaker his “little friend” in an Instagram post in December.
He added that it was “the best Christmas present I could’ve ever wished for”.
He said the pacemaker’s position underneath his tattoo tribute to Tom Parker made him “sure it’s being looked after”.
George rose to fame in the early 2010s, with bandmates Siva Kaneswaran, Nathan Sykes, Jay McGuiness and Parker.
The Wanted announced a break in 2014 – and in 2022, George and Kaneswaran relaunched as a duo.
George also appeared in Strictly Come Dancing in 2020 where he first met his now-partner, Smith.
His bandmate Parker died from brain cancer, aged 33, in March 2022.
