Jeff Bridges, an actor best known for playing “The Dude” in the 1998 cult classic “The Big Lebowski,” has shared a positive update about his health nearly three years after announcing that he was in remission from cancer.
The Oscar-winning actor was diagnosed with the disease—a form of cancer that starts in the body’s white blood cells—in October 2020. At the time, Mr. Bridges was busy filming the first season of the FX television show “The Old Man,” based on Thomas Perry’s 2017 novel of the same name. Along with playing the titular role, the actor also served as an executive producer on the show, which debuted in June 2022.
“What is so bizarre, to me anyway, in the first season when I was doing these fight scenes, I had a 9-inch by 12-inch tumor in my body, in my stomach, that didn’t hurt at all,” he said at the Television Critic Association’s event. “So that’s surprising to me.”
John Lithgow, who also stars in the hit FX series, which is set to premiere its second season on Sept. 12, was also featured on the panel. Reflecting on Mr. Bridges’ health struggles amid production, the “3rd Rock from the Sun” actor said he had no concerns about his costar’s role on the show.
“I never worry about Jeff,” Mr. Lithgow said. “I always knew he wouldn’t be here if he didn’t know he could do this.”
Cancer Diagnosis
Shortly after receiving his diagnosis, Mr. Bridges took to X to share the news with his fans.“During that break, I was doing some exercises while on the ground and felt what seemed like a bone in my stomach. I thought to myself, ‘Hmm.’ But it didn’t hurt or anything. I asked [my wife] what she thought. She said: ‘I don’t know, but you’ve got to get it checked out.’”
Shortly thereafter, Mr. Bridges and his wife, Susan Geston, whom he wed in 1977, took a trip to Montana, where the couple share a ranch. “I’m hiking and feeling great. My shins really itch, and I think, ‘Oh, I just got, you know, dry skin.’ Then I had night sweats, but thought, ‘That’s just hot summer nights.’ It turns out those are lymphoma symptoms,” he said.
The couple, who share three daughters, later returned to California, and Mr. Bridges finally sought advice from a doctor, who informed him that he had a 9- by 12-inch tumor in his stomach, leading the actor to subsequently undergo chemotherapy treatment.
However, in January 2021, Mr. Bridges learned he had contracted COVID-19 and was hospitalized for five weeks. “I had no immune system to fight it. Chemo had wiped that out, which made it really, really tough,” he said. Later that year, Mr. Bridges announced that his cancer was in remission.
“It just heightened the experience of most of my philosophies in life, and it all gets down to that corny ‘L’ word—love. That seems to be what’s running my ship, and going through these tough times, it kind of exacerbated all of that philosophy of love,” he said.
“When you get close to losing something like that, your gratitude and your thankfulness for what you have, the people that you love, and the love that you feel for your loved ones, grows. It just magnifies it, and that was something positive that came out of it.”