In 'People's latest cover story, Tucci discussed his cancer battle and how his wife, Felicity, helped him get through it.
Stanley Tucci is opening up about his cancer battle and why it took him so long to get his diagnosis.
In People's latest cover story, the star of CNN's food and travel series, Searching for Italy, said he feels "incredibly lucky" to be alive today after undergoing radiation and chemotherapy treatments that ravaged his body.
Tucci was diagnosed with a tumor on his tongue in 2017, but it took two years of him living with extreme pain in his jaw before his condition was accurately diagnosed.
"I had a scan, but the scan missed it. And of course, when you think that there might be something wrong, you're also afraid that there is something wrong," Tucci, who lost his first wife, Kate, to breast cancer in 2009, told the outlet.
It took seeing multiple doctors to finally discover that he had a three-centimeter tumor at the base of his tongue.
"They couldn't do surgery because the tumor was so big. It's a miracle that it didn't metastasize. It had been in me so long," the actor went on to say.
Tucci went through 35 days of radiation treatments, plus seven sessions of chemotherapy. His senses took a hit, and he lost his ability to taste and smell and eventually was put on a feeding tube after he became unable to eat, which was particularly hard for the self-proclaimed food lover.
It wasn't until 2018, when his treatments ended, that Tucci began to regain his strength and his ability to eat again, something he called "the most exciting thing in the world." While it was a trying time for the movie star, he told People he wouldn't have been able to get through it without the help of his children, and his wife, Felicity Blunt, the older sister of his Devil Wears Prada co-star, Emily Blunt.
"Felicity's undying attention, affection and encouragement got me through it," Tucci gushed.
The now 61-year-old actor is cancer-free and living in London with Felicity, whom he's been married to for 10 years. The pair are parents to two children -- Emilia 3 and Matteo, 7. He's also a dad to three older kids, whom he shared with his late wife, Kate -- 22-year-old twins Nicolo and Isabel, and Camilla, 20.
These days, a perfect day for Tucci is spent enjoying good food with his family.
"A perfect day off for me would be going to the farmer's market, buy a bunch of food, start cooking, play with the kids. And then have people over for dinner," he said. "To me, that's just a great day."
RELATED CONTENT
