Dani Rovira (Málaga, 45 years old) confessed on June 10 during his participation in the La Ruina podcast that 2025 had been “a shitty year,” the “worst” of his life. “The thing is that I had two surgeries. I found out I had to have surgery because I had a problem in a vein or some damn thing,” he said with his characteristic humor before the Madrid audience. This Friday, July 17, the Andalusian actor and comedian got more serious in an Instagram post — where he has 2.4 million followers — to reflect on everything he has learned a year after going through surgery. “Today marks one year since this first photo. A damaged vein and two surgeries, one less rib and one extra spring. And life turned upside down,” begins Rovira’s text, which accompanies a selfie in front of a mirror showing a scar between his neck and shoulder.
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“Then came infinitely greater fears, when life, which is a real bitch, took away something more mine than my own bones. And when I saw no handholds, I learned to hold on to a burning wisp of air,” continues the star of Spanish Affair, alluding to the death of his father, Andrés, who passed away in October 2025. “I have broken and rebuilt myself so many times that the fears have become tiny to me. And I feel like a giant next to them,” he assures in the post, which already has thousands of reactions.
The comedian mentions family, books, or music as some of the key factors that helped him regain optimism. “Dog walks, friends (counted), comedy, therapy, cinema, the pleasure of contemplation, gazpacho in summer and a stew in winter…,” he continues listing.
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Then, he addresses his followers directly: “Why am I telling you this? Because maybe you are reading me and you are on that screen. Be patient. Breathe. Embrace whatever comes. And accept, let go, surrender… because surrendering, sometimes, is braver than you think. Look the monster in the face, endure its breath and allow it to break you. Don’t postpone it any longer,” he advises those who, like him, are going through a difficult situation. “Because sometimes, one needs to shatter into pieces to be able to build something new. Someone new. From scratch. Whoever you decide. And don’t hide the scars. They are the map of a pain that teaches. Honor them. And breathe again… it’s a blessing to roam this planet,” he concludes his profound reflection.
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As Rovira revealed on La Ruina last month, after a first operation in which a thrombus was removed, doctors diagnosed him with thoracic outlet syndrome, so he had to undergo a second surgery and spend several days again in the ICU. This syndrome, according to the Mayo Clinic, is a group of conditions that compress blood vessels or nerves in the area between the neck and shoulder, which can cause pain in this area as well as numbness in the fingers. “They had to open me up, remove a piece of the first rib, remove the thrombus and put in a spring,” he detailed. He also confessed on the podcast, laughing, that he has kept the piece of rib they removed: “Now we want to put it all clean like this, put it in a reliquary and every year throw a little party for it.”
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Besides his selfie, Rovira’s post also includes a couple of photos of a mural on a street in Granada showing a crouching child and the following text: “Doing things that I break to fix and break again is how I spend my time.” Among the thousands of comments his reflection has already received, those from well-known friends and colleagues stand out. “I love you,” La Mari from Chambao wrote him along with a hugging emoji. “You’re amazing… thank you for telling it so beautifully and authentically. I needed this text, it helped me a lot… proud of the scars,” commented actress Nerea Garmendia. Journalist Carme Chaparro, who temporarily retired in 2025 due to an undisclosed illness, also showed her support: “I make your words mine. I’m still on the path. Different but the same. So I hold on to your story. Thank you for telling it.”
