Stanley Tucci is opening up about his 2017 oral cancer diagnosis and whom he thanks for helping him get through the tough times.
The Citadel actor recently told Willie Geist on Sunday Sitdown that “it was terrifying” when he first learned he had the disease.
Tucci said he and his late wife, Kate Spath-Tucci, “traveled all over the world trying to find a cure for her” before she died from breast cancer in 2009. “So when I got it, I was completely shocked,” he explained. “I was terrified, absolutely terrified.”
The Oscar-nominated actor previously said he was diagnosed when a tumor was found at the base of his tongue, which “was too big to operate” on, leaving “high-dose radiation and chemo” as his only option.
Although he was grateful that the cancer hadn’t spread, he said the “brutal” and “awful” treatments he had to undergo greatly impacted his diet.
“I lost 35 pounds,” he told Geist. “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. And it took months and months and months for me to finally be able to eat again and then taste properly again.”
While this was one of the toughest times in his life, The Lovely Bones actor does credit two people for helping him get through it all: his wife, Felicity Blunt, and his Devil Wears Prada co-star and sister-in-law Emily Blunt.
“I was so afraid, but Felicity was very insistent,” he added. “I mean that had to drag me, kicking and screaming, but now, I wouldn’t be around if I hadn’t done that [treatment].”
He added, “She was incredible. Still is incredible.”
