Jeff Bridges was in fight or flight mode shortly after receiving a diagnosis of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2020.
Bridges, 74, who portrays a former CIA operative in “The Old Man,” was diagnosed with the form of blood cancer after a doctor’s check-up revealed he had a large stomach tumor.
Months before, the acclaimed actor had filmed intense fight scenes for season one of the FX series where he had been “smacked around and punched in the stomach.”
“God, looking back on those, I really winced because I didn’t know it at the time, but I had a 9 by 12 inch tumor in my stomach — 9 by 12 inch! — while I’m getting smacked around and punched in the stomach and stuff,” Bridges told People magazine. “Didn’t hurt. There was no pain. But then I had this long hiatus [from filming].”
JEFF BRIDGES VIEWS CANCER BATTLE THAT LEFT HIM ‘PRETTY CLOSE TO DYING’ AS ‘LEARNING EXPERIENCE’
While he underwent chemotherapy and also contracted COVID during the show’s hiatus, Bridges was left wondering if he was “even going to do a season 2” of the program.
JEFF BRIDGES SAYS HE HAD MASSIVE ‘9-INCH BY 12-INCH TUMOR’ WHILE FILMING THRILLER TV SHOW
“While I was sick, I thought I not only wouldn’t go back to ‘The Old Man,’ I thought I might just kick the bucket. It got down to that,” he said. “I remember one doctor said, ‘You got to fight, Jeff. You’re not fighting.’
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“And I had no idea what he was talking about. I was in surrender mode, just, ‘Everybody dies. This might be me doing that.’ And out of that surrender, like I say, all of this intense love surfaced, and maybe that’s what caused me to survive, I don’t know. But I didn’t relate to the fighting thing, more of a surrendering.”
In addition to treatments, “The Big Lebowski” star began intense physical therapy and set little goals with his therapist to help him focus on the future. One goal: being healthy enough to walk his daughter Hayley down the aisle at her wedding.
“I didn’t know how I could do that, but I said, ‘Well, let’s train. Let’s put that as our goal,'” he said. “So we worked on that. And turned out, not only did I walk her down the aisle, but I got to do the wedding dance with her. Then I’d rush to my table and put my oxygen on!”
Bridges’ tumor reduced down to the size of a marble going into season two of “The Old Man,” and his oncologist is proud of his progress.
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“I don’t know the exact size of it,” Bridges said. “I get MRIs and all that down the line, but my oncologist says, ‘You’re looking good, man.’ And I get all my blood tests and everything and everything’s going real well.”
Throughout his “fascinating” health journey, Bridges has learned a few lessons.
“All of your strategies for life, how you work — all of those get heightened,” he said. “And love, that’s the word that comes to mind. To see how much I love my family and my friends and the nurses and doctors that were caring for me, and how much love is coming at me.
“So it just exacerbated love, basically.”
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