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Kevin Smith appeared on the latest episode of The Russell Howard Hour on Friday – and couldn’t stop talking about his vegan diet.
The filmmaker came on the show to talk about his upcoming film Jay and Silent Bob Reboot.
During the interview, he talked about why he ditched animal products and the massive health benefits he has experienced as a result.
‘I don’t eat turkey’
Smith revealed that this is the first year he hasn’t been in the US for Thanksgiving. When the audience made sympathetic noises, he told them to stop, saying: “I went vegan so I don’t eat turkey. I used to be happy, now I’m vegan.”
Smith ditched animal products on the advice of his doctor, after suffering a massive heart attack in February 2018.
He now describes the heart attack as ‘the best thing that ever happened to [him] because it saved [his] life in so many damn ways’.
The Widowmaker
“I wound up going vegan [after the heart attack], and I lost a bunch of weight – I lost like 75lb because of it – I was never in pain, that’s the weird thing. You hear about people who up and have a heart attack and die, and I always thought, ‘how do you not feel that coming?’.
“I had one of those heart attacks, and I didn’t feel it coming, I just couldn’t quite catch my breath. So for me, I misconstrued it as ‘I’ve smoked way too much weed today’. That wasn’t the case at all.”
He revealed that his doctor told him that the type of heart attack he was having was known as a ‘widowmaker’ as 80 percent of patients with Smith’s level of arterial blockage die.
Going vegan
While Smith initially went plant-based for health reasons, over the last year, his daughter Quinn Smith – an ethical vegan – inspired him to take a more compassionate outlook. The pair appeared in a video for the vegan Farm Sanctuary before Thanksgiving last year, urging people to consider not eating turkey.
“I’ve been a vegan for over six months and there’s nothing I miss. You’re always told it’s OK to eat animals, and that we’re supposed to eat animals. And that’s just something you’re fed. And for a long time, that’s what my generation believed.
“Now we know a lot better…some stuff you just let go…we’ll be [eating delicious food and spending time with family this Thanksgiving] but there’ll be no carcass on the table…Change happens slow, and you have to change the conversation.
“You have my solemn word ladies, I will never eat another turkey. And I will go out of my way to see that others might not as well.”
