Mathison opened up to ET about life since battling cancer and what it was like starring in the hit ABC soap opera.
Cameron Mathison is returning to the soap opera world. 10 years after starring in All My Children, Mathison is heading back to daytime TV in ABC's General Hospital as Drew Cain. Mathison opened up to ET's Nischelle Turner about what it was like being back on set.
"I didn't realize how much I missed it until my first day," Mathison admitted. "I don't really get nervous or anxious of going into a job anymore. But I was nervous, because it meant a lot to me, because All My Children was so important to me. And then coming back to General Hospital, I wanted to make an impact and after the first day, I'm like, 'Man I didn't know how much I missed it.'"
The former ET correspondent stepped up his health and fitness game to return to the soap, and after undergoing surgery and treatment for kidney cancer in 2019, Mathison said he's in the best shape of his life.
"I feel literally better than I have in decades," the 51-year-old actor revealed. "I feel so good and strong and my energy is up and my all systems go health wise and I’m so so grateful. It's been almost two years since the surgery."
He continued, "I went in knowing these guys on General Hospital, and they're in like, top, phenomenal shape, and I thought I better step up my game."
Battling cancer not only gave Mathison a new lease on health and fitness, but on his life too. He told Turner that the whole experience forced him to realize that life is short.
"You go through something like that, you really want to have some takeaways and the main one for sure, is that life is short and we know we say it, it's on bumper stickers and stuff, but we really truly don't know, we just don't know," Mathison explained. "We never know what tomorrow is going to bring."
He added, "And to make the most, to make life as meaningful as possible while you can. From a health perspective, on a tangible basis, just to really be in-tune with your own body, listen to your body, listen to what happens when you eat something and it doesn't feel right, really be in tune with it, because your body could be telling you something. It's saved my life."
The talk show host and actor revealed that he had to fight to get an MRI for nearly two years before finding out he had cancer.
"I had to fight for an MRI," he shared. "It took me two years to get one, so you've got to really listen to your body. I really believe that."
See Mathison make his debut on General Hospital Aug. 17 on ABC.
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