Stanley Tucci Opens Up About 'Terrifying' Cancer Battle
Stanley Tucci shared the emotional and physical toll his cancer battle had on him.
The Devil Wears Prada star opened up to Sunday Today's Willie Geist about being diagnosed with oral cancer in 2017. "It was terrifying. My first wife [Kate Tucci] died of cancer. So when I got it, I was completely shocked," he explained.
"Luckily, it hadn't metastasized. But the treatments were brutal. I lost 35 pounds. I couldn't eat. I had a feeding tube for six months and everything tasted like you know what and smelled like you know what," Tucci continued.
He also credited wife Felicity Blunt for his recovery. "I was so afraid, but Felicity was very insistent. I mean, they had to drag me kicking and screaming. But now… I wouldn't be around if I hadn't done that," he said.
The actor first revealed his secret cancer diagnosis in 2021 while speaking to Virgin Atlantic's magazine Vera, when he was already in remission. He shared that he had a tumor at the base of his tongue, which was "too big to operate, so they had to do high-dose radiation and chemo."
He added: "I'd vowed I'd never do anything like that, because my first wife died of cancer, and to watch her go through those treatments for years was horrible."
Tucci reflected on how having cancer changed his view on life, saying, "[Cancer] makes you more afraid and less afraid at the same time. I feel much older than I did before I was sick. But you still want to get ahead and get things done."
