Dolph Lundgren secretly battled cancer for eight years, was told by doctors he had "two to three years" to live

Dolph Lundgren secretly battled cancer for eight years.

The Universal Soldier actor, 65, opened up for the first time on In Depth with Graham Bensinger show on Wednesday (May 10) about fighting the disease, which started in 2015 when doctors first discovered and removed a cancerous tumour on his kidney.

“They found a tumour in my kidney and they took it out… but then they did a biopsy and it was cancerous," he said. 

“Then I did scans every six months, then you do it every year, then it was fine for about five years.”

Lundgren's cancer returned in 2020 when doctors found six tumours in his kidneys and liver, one of which was too large to remove so he hard to start systemic therapy. More tumours were detected in 2021 when Lundgren arrived in London to shoot Aquaman 2 and The Expendables 4. 

The growth was too big to be surgically removed, so Lundgren started chemotherapy, which his fiancée Emma Krokdal, 25, told Bensinger led to him suffering a series of horrific side effects.

Krokdal said: “His mouth got really sore, his hands got sore, his feet, and he couldn’t eat anything warm or anything cold, anything spicy.

“So that was a struggle to get food down so he kept losing weight.”

Lundgren, who has daughters Ida, 26, and Greta, 21, with interior designer ex-wife Anette Qviberg, 57, said he started to come to terms with the fact he was probably going to die after being told he was a “lost case”.

He added: “They started saying things like, ‘You should take a break and spend more time with your family.’

“So I kinda asked him, ‘How long do you think I have left?’ and I think he said, ‘Two to three years,’ but I could tell in his voice that it was less.

“I thought it was it for sure. You kind of look at your life and go, ‘I’ve had a frickin’ great life. I’ve lived like five lifetimes in one.’

“So it wasn’t like I was bitter about it.”

Lundgren turned things around after he met Dr Alexandra Drakaki, who found a mutation in one of his tumours that is commonly seen in lung cancer, which opened up a new range of potential treatments.

Lundgren said: “Within three months, things were shrinking by 20 to 30 per cent.”

By the end of 2022, he added they had reduced by about “90 per cent,” which allowed for surgical removal.

Lundgren said his nightmare battle means he “appreciates life a lot more” and feels “lucky to be alive”.

In the interview, Lundgren also said his steroids use could've caused the cancer.

"I tried steroids back in the '80s, '90s," he said. "I don't know if that is something to do with the cancer, of course it struck me as it could have something to do with it.

"I thought about it, you always think you've made a mistake. I think maybe there is some connection between testosterone therapy and cancer.

"I was on steroids when I was younger, on and off for maybe ten years. Depending on the kind of movie I made."

Expendables 4 opens in cinemas on Sept 22, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is out on Dec 19. (No Singapore release dates available at time of writing.) 

Watch Lundgren's In Depth with Graham Bensinger interview here:

— BANG SHOWBIZ

Photo: TPG News/Click Photos

Watch exclusive 8Days interviews on meWATCH and Mediacorp YouTube Channel.