The 'Terminator' alum underwent pulmonary valve replacement due to a congenital heart defect prior to the heart surgery.

• Mar 31, 2018

AceShowbiz - Arnold Schwarzenegger's spirit is back following an emergency open-heart surgery on Thursday, March 29. Arnold's spokesperson Daniel Ketchell took to Twitter to announce that the surgery went well and since then, the former governor has been in good spirits.

He wrote, "Update: @Schwarzenegger is awake and his first words were actually 'I'm back', so he is in good spirits."

Sources closed to Arnold told TMZ that the 70-year-old actor-turned-governor went to Cedars-Sinai for a catheter valve replacement. During that procedure, an open-heart surgery team was prepared in case the procedure was unable to be performed. The surgery lasted several hours.

According to a statement released by Daniel on the former governor's procedure, Arnold previously underwent pulmonary valve replacement due to a congenital heart defect in 1997. The 1997 replacement valve was never meant to be permanent and it had outlived its life expectancy. Thus, Arnold decided to replace it on Thursday through a less-invasive catheter valve replacement. In the statement, Daniel also thanked the entire medical team for their tireless efforts.

In a 2016 interview on "In Depth With Graham Bensinger", the "Terminator" alum revealed that his family has heart problems. He also recalled his fear upon undergoing his previous life-threatening surgery in 1997. Arnold told Graham Bensinger that the first time doctors tried to replace his valve, the surgery failed and they had to do it again.

Arnold commented on the second 1997's surgery, "Now it gets very dangerous. To do two surgeries within 24 hours like that is like... first they tell you there's a six percent chance you wipe out and now that doubles." He continued, "It was a wild situation to be in, but being on the amount of drugs you're on at that point, you really don't care." He then concluded, "Luckily it all went well. I still have the same valves."

After exiting California's governor's office in January 2011, Arnold has been keeping up an active political life. He appeared last week with Ohio governor John Kasich and former California assembly Republican leader Chad Mayes in Boyle Heights. They gathered to promote a centrist GOP advocacy group called New Way California.