Reflecting on his stroke three years ago, Stellan Skarsgård admitted feeling “truly frightened” at the time, yet he now views the experience as occurring at a “perfect moment” in his life.

In a conversation with Vulture, the 74-year-old actor shared how he managed to return to his career despite the health challenge. “I discovered a method,” Skarsgård said, describing his adaptation to the situation. He elaborated on using earpieces with a prompter to feed him lines, though it required practice. “It’s not just about hearing the lines; it’s about maintaining my rhythm,” he explained. To ensure he could respond promptly, his colleagues had to deliver their lines swiftly and neutrally. “Training someone to do that effectively is quite the task,” he noted.

The stroke impacted Skarsgård’s life “between the first and second seasons of ‘Andor’ and ‘Dune.'”

Despite the challenges, Skarsgård remains grateful for his ability to continue working. “Some might say I’m fortunate not to memorize lines anymore, but it’s more demanding now,” he remarked. “Suddenly, recalling names and following complex thoughts or arguments becomes a struggle, and that’s incredibly frustrating. Yet, on the bright side, I’m alive and still able to work.”

“You might say, ‘Oh, you’re lucky. You don’t have to learn your lines.’ There’s more work now than there was before,” Skarsgård said. “Suddenly, I can’t come up with names. I can’t follow a thought or make an argument that spans several sentences that gets to the point — that, then bang! That is extremely frustrating. But on the other hand, I’m alive. I can work.”

“I’m not afraid of dying,” the star added, “but I am afraid of not being capable of living. That is a fear. And being boring.”

Skargård’s first credited role was in the Swedish television series “Bombi Bitt och jag” in 1968. Over the years, several of his eight children have followed in his footsteps onscreen.

“I consider myself a nepo daddy,” Skarsgård told the publication. “Because I get so much goodwill and maybe jobs because of them.”

He claims he hasn’t had a hand in helping his kids land roles, however.

“It is such a bulls— thing,” Skarsgård continued. “Because nobody would hire you, at least not for anything good, if you’re not good enough.”

The “nepo baby” label has actually affected his son Kolbjörn, 13, in school.

“My 13-year-old, Kolbjörn, the youngest, suffers from that. When his pals at school call him nepo baby, he gets so sad,” the film star explained. “He doesn’t have any friends at school. He gets isolated. Cruel kids — or cruel and ignorant.”

Kolbjörn currently stars in the horror series “Blood Cruise.”

The Hollywood vet, meanwhile, married My Skarsgård in 1975 and welcomed six kids: Alexander, Gustaf, Sam, Bill, Eija and Valter.

After the exes split in 2007, Skarsgård then married Megan Everett in 2009, and the couple are parents to sons Ossian and Kolbjörn.

Alexander, 49, broke out with his role in “True Blood” from 2008 to 2014 and recently had a recurring role in the HBO hit “Succession.” His other standout credits have included 2016’s “The Legend of Tarzan,” “Big Little Lies” from 2017 to 2019 and the new Apple TV+ series, “Murderbot.”

“Luckily, we are different in type and age, so there hasn’t been a lot of competition for specific parts,” Gustaf, 44, who starred in “Vikings” from 2013 to 2020, told Sweden’s Schön! magazine in 2018. “There is competition to the point that we can actually make fun of it — we’ll keep scores and laugh about it.”

“At the end of the day, we’re in this industry to have fun,” he added. “We’re a very close family, and we’ve always been supportive of one another.”

The “Mamma Mia!” actor also reflected on his talented brood, telling The Daily Beast in 2021: “I’ve had two beautiful wives — and very smart wives — and that’s helped a lot. I’m not going to take much credit for anything.”