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“Never give up hope”: Dolph Lundgren talks cancer battle

By Stephen Iervolino Jan 18, 2024 | 5:00 AM
Tiffany Rose/Getty Images for Make-A-Wish Greater Los Angeles

Back in May, Aquaman and Expendables franchise star Dolph Lundgren revealed he’d been fighting cancer since doctors successfully removed a malignant tumor in his kidney in 2015.

The 66-year-old Rocky IV star revealed to In Depth with Graham Bensinger that in 2020 new scans revealed new tumors, including one “the size of a small lemon” on his liver. At the time, his doctor gave him less than two to three years to live. “I thought it was it for sure,” he said.

Luckily, the star sought a second opinion, and a new doctor deployed a cutting-edge treatment that shrank his tumors by 90%.

To ABC Audio recently, the actor looked back at his battle, which he called his “real-life action movie.”

He continued, “You just gotta never lose hope. And just … every day is a new challenge, is a new fight, and you just keep pushing forward.”

He’s doing just that, about to debut an action movie he co-wrote, stars in and directed called Wanted Man. He also teamed up with Ryan Reynolds for projects on the latter’s Maximum Effort streaming channel.

And Lundgren is also keeping in great shape, explaining how his regimen has changed since his health battle.

“My view is anything is better than nothing, you know?” he says.

He adds, “I’ve started doing some Pilates because it’s … kind of easier in the body, but it’s quite good for your core. Good for your abs … I don’t do any hard sparring or don’t really hit the bag too much. I don’t do anything that can lead to injury.”

He continues, “What do they say? Uh, ‘Use it or lose it.’ You know, that’s kind of what I’m thinking.”

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