Stanley Tucci opened up about his “terrifying” oral cancer diagnosis on Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist over the weekend. The Citadel actor was diagnosed in 2017, after losing his wife, Kate Spath-Tucci, to breast cancer in 2009.
Tucci said he and his late wife “traveled all over the world trying to find a cure for her” before she passed away. “So when I got it, I was completely shocked,” he said. “I was terrified, absolutely terrified.”
The Devil Wears Prada star had a tumor at the base of his tongue that “was too big to operate,” so he received “high-dose radiation and chemo.” Tucci shared that he “lost 35 pounds” as a result of the treatment. “I couldn’t eat. I had a feeding tube for six months and everything tasted like you-know-what and smelled like you-know-what. And it took months and months and months for me to finally be able to eat again and then taste properly again.”
The Lovely Bones actor added that he’s grateful for the support he received from his wife, Felicity Blunt, and his sister-in-law, Emily Blunt. “I was so afraid, but Felicity was very insistent,” he said. “I mean that had to drag me, kicking and screaming, but now, I wouldn’t be around if I hadn’t done that treatment.”
