Jeff Bridges is a happy man now that his cancer is in the rear-view mirror.
The 74-year-old “The Old Man” actor was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2020, but announced that he was in remission the following year.
Now three years later, Bridges can look back at all the “wonderful” things his cancer journey brought and taught him.
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“I’m feeling good,” he told Entertainment Tonight while walking the red carpet at the Country Music Association Awards in Nashville on Nov. 20.
“Funny to say it but it was wonderful in a way,” he continued.
Bridges went on to share that there are certain “gifts” that you only receive “when you’re going through times like that.”
“It exacerbates all the love … that you feel for being alive and all the people that you love,” he added, singling out his family, who has been by his side every step of the way.
“And then you get all that [love] coming back. It’s some strong stuff,” he concluded.
Bridges has been married to his wife, Susan Geston, since 1977. The couple share three daughters, including Isabelle Bridges Boesche, 43, Jessica Lily Bridges, 41, and Hayley Roselouise Bridges, 39.
Bridges was invited to the CMA Awards to present the biggest honor of the night, the Entertainer of the Year, but it ended in quite the blunder on live national television.
“This is the biggest award of the night, so let’s not screw around,” he said before opening the envelope and mispronouncing the last name of the winner, Morgan Wallen.
Bridges pronounced it way-lin, as opposed to wall-in.
Despite the mistake, Bridges has a lot to look forward to now that he is cancer free.
Bridges says his health is great after nearly dying in 2021
Bridges has been open about his cancer journey ever since revealing his lymphoma diagnosis in a post on his X account on Oct. 19, 2020.
“Although it is a serious disease, I feel fortunate that I have a great team of doctors and the prognosis is good,” he wrote on X at the time.
On March 28, 2021, he wrote a letter revealing that his once 9×12-inch tumor had shrunk down to just a 2×2-inch tumor.
The tumor had shrunk in January, but he decided to hold off on publishing the letter while he recovered from COVID-19, which kept him in the hospital for five weeks.
“While I had moments of tremendous pain (screaming singing, a sort of moaning song all through the night) gettin’ close to the Pearly Gates, all in all, I felt happy and joyous most of the time,” he wrote.
“This brush with mortality has brought me a real gift,” he added. “Life is brief and beautiful. Love is all around us and available at all times.”
I want to thank you all for reaching out during this time, it feels good getting all the well wishes and love! I’ll be sharing more updates on https://t.co/tndalVJNn0 pic.twitter.com/0hGh7gs1Dp
— Jeff Bridges (@TheJeffBridges) October 29, 2020
By September 2021, his tumor had shrunk down to the size of a marble and his cancer was officially in remission, according to a letter posted on his website.
Fast forward to earlier this year and “The Big Lebowski” actor said that his “health is great” and described the journey as a “learning experience.”
“It’s amazing the way the mind can forget all that stuff. I’m not thinking too much about the past,” he told PageSix at the 49th Chaplin Award Gala in April.
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About 80,620 people will be diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2024, according to the American Cancer Society. Of those people, nearly one-quarter of them will die from the disease.