Dolph Lundgren has revealed he's been secretly battling cancer for eight years and said he now "appreciates life a lot more".
The 65-year-old star - who is best known for his role as Soviet-Russian boxer Ivan Drago in the Rocky film series - opened up about his devastating diagnosis for the first time today.
The Swedish actor said the first tumour was found in his kidney eight years ago and treated but the cancer spread to his lungs, spine, liver and stomach and in 2020 he was told the cancer was terminal.
"[There was a] tumour in my kidney and they took it out in 2015 [...] but then they did a biopsy and it was cancerous," he explained in a new interview.
Dolph said he had scans over the course of five years which were "fine" before an MRI in 2020 found "more tumours" and he was thrown back on the ropes.
He said that a doctor later revealed that "one more tumour" had been found in his liver, adding on In Depth With Graham Bensinger: "At that point it started to hit me that this is kinda something serious."
Dolph said that it had initially been hoped that the tumour would be removed but he was later told that it had grown "too big" for surgery.
He was put on systemic therapy but his health suffered from side effects including diarrhea and weight-loss.
"So I kinda asked him y'know 'how long do you think I have got left?'" Dolph recalled.
"I think he said two or three years but I could tell in his voice that he probably thought it was less."
Dolph said he wasn't "bitter" about his terminal cancer but "felt sorry" for those around him including his fiancée Emma Krokdal, 25, and his two daughters Ida Lundgren, 26, and Greta Lundgren, 21.
"[I decided] I might as well get a second opinion," he explained that he was offered alternative treatment by a different doctor.
"Within three months things were shrinking," he said. Sharing an update, Dolph added: "Now we're in the process of taking out the remaining scar tissue of these tumours".
He said: "The prognosis is that hopefully when they take these out there's no cancer activity and the medication that I'm taking is gonna suppress everything else".
His oncologist said: "I hope it's years. I don't think it's months. My hope and goal is to try to keep him on this medication as long as possible and [...] just keep getting biopsies as things change within his body to try to identify newer targets for treatment."
Asked about the impact the experience has had on him, Dolph said: "You appreciate life a lot more. [...] You just appreciate being lucky enough to be alive [and] every moment".
Dolph admitted that he used steroids early in his career and said he's thought about the possibility of that having contributed to him being diagnosed with cancer later in life.
He said in the interview: "I don't know if it has something to do with the cancer. Of course it struck me as it could have had something to do with it. I thought about it".
Dolph starred as Ivan Drago in Rocky IV (1985) and sequel Creed II (2014). His other acting credits include roles in projects like Aquaman and The Expendables film series.
