Jeff Bridges Shares Health Update After Battle With Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma

Jeff Bridges provided his fans with a new health update this week, about four years after his initial cancer diagnosis.

The 74-year-old actor underwent chemotherapy following his non-Hodgkin lymphoma diagnosis in October 2020. Though he initially described his prognosis as “good,” the True Grit star admitted during a recent interview with People that he entered “surrender mode” and had worried that he “might just kick the bucket.”

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When one of his doctors urged Bridges to “fight” rather than accept what he believed might become his fate, Bridges discovered “all of this intense love,” which he told the magazine possibly helped him “survive.”

Bridges first announced his battle with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a type of blood cancer, in social media posts on Oct. 19, 2020. “As the Dude would say.. New S**T has come to light,” his announcement began, referencing his character in the 1998 cult classic The Big Lebowski. “I have been diagnosed with Lymphoma. Although it is a serious disease, I feel fortunate that I have a great team of doctors and the prognosis is good.”

The Crazy Heart star has provided occasional updates on his health in the years since. During an interview last month with Stephen Colbert on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Bridges recalled first learning that he had a large tumor (which he said was approximately 12 inches by 9 inches in size) in his stomach. He was diagnosed shortly after the coronavirus pandemic necessitated a production halt on The Old Man, the FX TV series in which he stars.

“I didn’t think I was going to go back to work, but it turned out I could go back,” Bridges told Colbert. True to his realization, Bridges was able to return to the show for Season 2, which premiered last month.

About one year after his diagnosis, Bridges announced that his tumor was significantly smaller—about as tiny as a marble—after chemotherapy and that his cancer was in remission. At the time of his recent interview with People, which was published on Thursday, Oct. 24, Bridges said he wasn't sure about "the exact size” his tumor is now but that “everything's going real well.”

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