Jeff Bridges Reveals State of His Tumor Following Cancer Battle

Tatiana Tenreyro
·2 min read
2

Jeff Bridges gave an optimistic update on his health after battling cancer.

In a cover story interview with AARP, the Big Lebowski star shared that his tumor shrunk "to the size of a marble" and is in remission.

"A lot of getting better was a matter of setting really small goals. At first they'd say, 'How long can you stand?' For a while, my record was 45 seconds before I'd collapse. And then they were saying: 'Oh, look, you're standing for a minute. That's so cool, now can you walk 5 feet,'" said the actor.

Though Bridges is in remission now, he shared that he thought there was a strong chance of dying after contracting COVID in the midst of his chemotherapy treatment. "I got this letter from the chemo place informing me I had contracted COVID. I had no immune system to fight it. Chemo had wiped that out, which made it really, really tough," he recalled, adding that "cancer was nothing compared to COVID."

Bridges continued, "I remember the doctor saying to me, 'Jeff, you've got to fight. You're not fighting' But I didn't get it anymore. I just didn't know how to do that. I was in surrender mode. I'd say to myself, 'Everybody dies, and this is me dying.' And I'd hear myself go, 'Oh, well, here we are, on to the next adventure.'"

He thought about his friends who died recently, like David Crosby and Peter Bogdanovich. "You asked me about the things that happen to old men. Their friends die, you know?" Bridges explained.

The actor credited his wife Susan Geston for his well-being, noting how much her support mattered. "My wife Sue was my absolute champion," he said. "She really fought to keep me off a ventilator. I didn't want to be on it, and the doctors didn't necessarily want that. But Sue was adamant."

Bridges is now feeling good enough to begin filming the second season of The Old Man, which begins production later in the week. In a recent interview with Parade, Bridges spoke about his role as Dan Chase in the series.

"I hadn't done TV in a long time, and I was curious if it was gonna be any different than making movies. And it's no different! All these guys were just top-notch, you know? [Co-stars] John Lithgow and bring so much joy and fun; it’s such a ball! That's the other joy of acting—you don't know the people, but the object is to get close, so we can jam," he said.