Stanley Tucci, best known for a diverse range of performances across the cinematic landscape including in films like The Hunger Games and Captain America: The First Avenger has revealed that three years ago he was told that he had a sizeable tumor at the base of his tongue.
In the interview with Vera magazine where this was brought up, he discussed his fears when they told him he’d need high-dose radiation and chemo saying – “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,”. His first wife Kate Spath-Tucci was afflicted with breast cancer and passed away in 2009 at the age of 47.
While he didn’t give all the details of his treatment, he implied that it was an arduous process. “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.” It seems like he is mostly in the clear now, saying that the cancer is unlikely to return.
Three years after that diagnosis and now aged 60, the Italian-American actor still has a lot going for him. Last March he became an internet sex symbol after a video of him making a negroni induced thirst across the internet. This year he reprised his role as Dr. Erskine in Marvel’s What If and will also be playing Merlin in The King’s Man which is set to release on September 22nd 2021.
While recognizing the toll that his illness has taken on him, Tucci ultimately has an optimistic outlook: “[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.”
