Antonio Banderas Struggling to ‘Keep Up’ With Girlfriend Nicole Kimpel: ‘Old Enough to Be Her Father’

Antonio Banderas and girlfriend Nicole Kimpel are still going strong after more than a decade of dating, but he’s struggling to keep pace with her energetic lifestyle, per a source, who says the couple’s 21-year age gap is becoming an increasing problem.

“Nicole has been something of a saint these last few years dealing with Antonio’s change of lifestyle,” says Closer’s source. “He’s still a jet-setting Latin lover at heart, but he has had to slow down and make adjustments.”

In a Wednesday, March 25 interview with The Times, the Mask of Zorro actor, 65, revealed that he left Hollywood and returned to his hometown of Málaga, Spain after suffering a near-fatal heart attack in 2017. “It changed the way I look at life,” Banderas said of facing death.

“He gives her all the credit in the world for adapting to his reality, but it’s hard to keep up with somebody with Nicole’s energy level,” the source says of the 44-year-old entrepreneur. “If Antonio could take a pill and magically be twenty years younger, he would do it. But the reality is, he’s old enough to be Nicole’s father and he’s acutely aware of his limitations.”

And hers.

“Antonio is an incredibly likable guy, but the idea that Nicole could leave him during his later years is always on the table,” Closer’s source notes. “They live well, thanks to his wealth and fame, but there’s no getting around that they’re at extremely different stages of life.”

Adds the source: “When you’re around them, you can feel the age difference, and it’s extreme.”