Jeff Bridges, 74, Is in ‘Great Health’ After Cancer Scare: How He Beat the Odds

Jeff Bridges, the beloved star of The Big Lebowski, says he’s in “great health” just three years after he was fighting COVID-19 while undergoing chemotherapy for lymphoma.

“I had no defenses. That’s what chemo does — it strips you of all your immune system,” the 74-year-old previously explained. “I had nothing to fight it. COVID made my cancer look like nothing. I was pretty close to dying!”

In 2020, Bridges discovered he had a tumor while filming the TV series The Old Man. He spent five months in the hospital battling both illnesses at the same time and said he was ready for the end.

“The doctors kept telling me: ‘Jeff, you’ve got to fight. You’re not fighting,’” Bridges confessed. “I was in surrender mode. I was ready to go. I was dancing with my mortality.”

Looking back now, the Oscar winner called his brush with death a “learning experience.”

“It’s amazing the way the mind can forget all that stuff,” he added. “I don’t think too much about the past!”