Stanley Tucci has opened up about being treated for cancer three years ago.
The actor discussed the diagnosis for the first time in a new interview with the magazine Vera.
He explained that he was diagnosed three years ago with a tumour at the base of his tongue. The tumour, he said, was “too big to operate” on, so he underwent “high-dose radiation and chemo”.
Treatments were successful and the illness is unlikely to return, Tucci told the publication.
“The kids were great, but it was hard for them,” he said. “I had a feeding tube for six months. I could barely make it to the twins’ high school graduation.”
Tucci’s first wife, Kate Spath-Tucci, died of breast cancer in 2009 at the age of 47. Having to watch her go through treatment, he said, initially left him reluctant to go through it himself: “I’d vowed I’d never do anything like that,” he said, “because my first wife died of cancer, and having to watch her go through those treatments for years was horrible.”
Cancer, he added, “makes you more afraid and less afraid at the same time”.
“I feel much older than I did before I was sick,” he said. “But you still want to get ahead and get things done.”
Tucci was recently seen appearing alongside Colin Firth in Supernova, a romantic drama released in June in the UK and earlier this year in the US. He will also feature in Sara Colangelo’s Worth and Tanya Wexler’s Jolt.
