Jeff Bridges' lymphoma in remission, says COVID bout made cancer fight 'look like a piece of cake'
LOS ANGELES - Jeff Bridges is providing his fans with an update after he was not only diagnosed with lymphoma last October but simultaneously endured a serious bout with coronavirus as well.
The "Bad Times at the El Royale" star, 71, wrote on his website that his cancer is now in remission and a 9-inch by 12-inch mass has "shrunk down to the size of a marble."
While Bridges told fans he is "feeling better" and his battle with COVID-19 – which he and wife Susan both contracted in January – is "in the rearview mirror," he admitted that it did a pretty good number on him.
"COVID kicked my a-- pretty good, but I'm double vaccinated & feeling much better now," he wrote on his website. "I heard that the vaccine can help folks with Long Haulers. Maybe that's the cause of my quick improvement."
The Oscar winner wrote in a previous update that the symptoms he and his wife were experiencing were dire enough to extend his stay in the hospital.
"Sue spends 5 days in the hospital. Me…? I'm there 5 weeks," he wrote at the time. "The reason I'm there so long is because my immune system is shot from the chemo. My dance with COVID makes my cancer look like a piece of cake."
"But ... here's the weird deal," he continued. "While I had moments of tremendous pain (screaming singing, a sort of moaning song all through the night) getting close to the Pearly Gates, all in all, I felt happy and joyous most of the time. This brush with mortality has brought me a real gift — LIFE IS BRIEF AND BEAUTIFUL. LOVE IS ALL AROUND US, AND AVAILABLE AT ALL TIMES."
FILE - Jeff Bridges visits "Extra" at Burbank Studios on Dec. 13, 2019 in Burbank, California. (Photo by Noel Vasquez/Getty Images)
In October, Bridges wrote that the cancer he was fighting had actually made him "appreciate [his] mortality" and "appreciate impermanence."
"This cancer thing is bringing on feelings of precociousness & gratitude & good old fashion [sic] love & lots of it, big time," Bridges wrote. "I'm feeling so much of it comin' my way, & man I appreciate it. It's contagious, all this love, like some kind of positive virus."
Meanwhile, Bridges maintained in his most recent post that his ultimate goal is to be healthy enough to walk his daughter Hailey, 35, down the aisle at her wedding and hopes to accompany her during the father-daughter dance without oxygen assistance.
"The sound it makes reminds me of Darth Vader," he quipped and said recently he has been able to work out with a physical therapist without it.