Jeff Bridges Shares Health Update Following Cancer Diagnosis

Jeff Bridges is sharing a new update on his health after being diagnosed with cancer and battling a severe case of COVID-19 at the beginning of 2021. The Old Man star, 73, opened up in an interview with AARP about his health battle, revealing that he's in much better health now than he was in the immediate aftermath of his dual diagnoses. 

Bridges' tumor "has shrunk to the size of a marble," The Big Lebowski star revealed as he returned to set for Season 2 of The Old Man before production on the FX drama series was suspended due to the ongoing writers' strike. "I'm so blessed to have this cast," he said, adding, "to talk to and jam with. To get back to doing what invigorates you – it feels great, man."

When Season 1 of The Old Man was filming, Bridges said he was "doing those fight scenes" for the premiere without knowing he had "a 9-by-12-inch tumor in my body." The Crazy Heart actor was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and would soon begin chemotherapy, but in January 2021, he learned he had contracted COVID-19 with his weakened immune system.

"I had no immune system to fight it. Chemo had wiped that out, which made it really, really tough," he said. "For me, cancer was nothing compared to the Covid." Bridges went into "surrender mode" during his battle with the virus and accepted it was his time to go. "I remember the doctor saying to me, 'Jeff, you've got to fight. You're not fighting.' But I didn't get it anymore. I just didn't know how to do that. I was in surrender mode," he recalled. "I'd say to myself, 'Everybody dies, and this is me dying.' And I'd hear myself go, 'Oh, well, here we are, on to the next adventure.' "

"I couldn't understand how you'd fight it," the True Grit star continued. "So I fought by surrendering, which is not the same as giving up. What I really felt at the time was love. Love was certainly magnified for me during this time. Not only from the people around me, but also the love in my own heart for them. So what I did was more like giving in to love, you know?"

Bridges would end up spending five months in the hospital while undergoing treatment using plasma from other people who had recovered from COVID. The actor's wife of 46 years, Susan Geston, was his "absolute champion," during that time. "She really fought to keep me off a ventilator," he remembered. "I didn't want to be on it, and the doctors didn't necessarily want that. But Sue was adamant."