Jeff Bridges Admits He Was "At Death's Door" After Fighting COVID And Cancer

Jeff Bridges, 72, is best known for his roles in various films and television shows including "The Big Lebowski" (1998), "TRON: Legacy" (2010), "Iron Man" (2008), and "Seabiscuit" (2003).

In 2020, the "TRON" actor announced he was diagnosed with lymphoma -- cancer within the lymphatic system, which consists of the lymph nodes, spleen, thymus gland, and bone marrow. And while undergoing chemotherapy treatments, the now 72-year-old admitted to contracting COVID-19 last year.

Now, Bridges is reflecting on his recent health battles.

Jeff Bridges revealed he was diagnosed with lymphoma back in 2020. The actor was undergoing chemotherapy treatment in 2021, when he unfortunately contracted COVID-19.

"The chemo wipes out your immune system and when COVID hit me, I had nothing to fight it," Bridges told E! News. "I was just really at death's door a couple of times there."

During the health scare, which placed Bridges in the hospital for over four months, he began to think this was it. He thought he would never get to work on the big screen again, but more importantly, he never thought he would be able to walk his daughter, 36, down the aisle.

"I remember the doctors saying to me, 'Jeff, you gotta fight,'" he said, recalling having a lot of doubts. But thanks to his support system, including his medical team, trainers, and family, he was able to become more positive and fight COVID-19, and ultimately go into remission in September 2021 as well.

"I had no idea what they were talking about. I thought, ‘Man, I'm in surrender mode here.' With a great medical team, great trainers, and my family, everybody brought me back," Bridges continued.

In September 2021, Bridges shared that he was in remission. Now that the actor battled both cancer and COVID-19, the 72-year-old has a new outlook on life and is prioritizing his wife of 45 years, Susan, and their three daughters and three grandchildren.

"Sue and I were looking at each other and we went, ‘How lucky are we?' I hug that girl and I get recharged. It's right there, so accessible," Jeff told E! News. "I'm being conscious of stuff that's just right in front of me like love and my family and all of the stuff that's available for me. I'm just really loving this obvious thing that we live with all the time and take for granted."

He continued, "So often things are right on our nose that we don't appreciate. But it turns out there are many positive sides in my life that came out of that experience."

Bridges wants to continue raising awareness of COVID-19 and the dangers it can cause. So much so that on September 15, the actor teamed up with AstraZeneca to launch "Up The Antibodies".

"While the option to up my antibodies to protect me from COVID-19 wasn't around when I was going through cancer treatment, it is now," he said.. "As soon as I could, I upped my antibodies. And now I'm feeling more confident to get back to doing the things I love."

https://youtu.be/57bkLxpJcT4

Bridges is also getting back into acting, currently working on filming the FX thriller "The Old Man", where he stars alongside Amy Brenneman, Alia Shawkat, John Lithgow, Bill Heck, and Leem Lubany.