Stanley Tucci privately went through treatment for cancer several years ago.
Now the "The Hunger Games" actor is praising his wife Felicity Blunt, actress Emily Blunt’s older sister, for supporting him through one of the most formidable obstacles in his life.
In this week’s People cover story, Tucci notes that he considers himself “incredibly lucky” to be alive today.
In 2017, the actor has was diagnosed with a tumor at the base of his tongue. Tucci underwent a 35-day radiation treatment plus seven sessions of chemotherapy. Throughout his harrowing battle with cancer, he could not eat and was dependent on a feeding tube.
"They couldn't do surgery because the tumor was so big," Tucci said. "It's a miracle that it didn't metastasize. It had been in me so long."
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Prior to his diagnosis, Tucci experienced extreme pain in his jaw for two years.
“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,” said Tucci, who lost his first wife Kate to breast cancer in 2009.
After meeting Felicity at John Krasinki and Emily Blunt's wedding, "The Devil Wears Prada" star married the literary agent in 2012.
He shared how Felicity was instrumental in his recovery from cancer.
“Felicity’s undying attention, affection and encouragement got me through it,” he told the outlet.
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Tucci currently shares daughter Emilia, 3, and son Matteo, 7, with Felicity. He is also a father to three older children with his late wife: 22-year-old twins Nicolo and Isabel, and Camilla, 20.
Last year, the Oscar-nominated actor went into depth about losing his sense of taste while fighting cancer.
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“I was unable to eat solid food for six months,” Tucci recalled, “I lost 30 pounds and my taste buds and saliva glands were destroyed, as was the inside of my mouth, and it’s taken really three years to get back to almost normal… It was hard because I could taste everything, but I couldn’t necessarily swallow.”
One way he got through the experience was binge-watching food shows. Though he admits, that was an odd choice, “because even the smell of food than would just make me want to throw up.”
The 61-year-old is now in remission.
When not enjoying life in London with his wife of 10 years, Tucci hosts his CNN show, “Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy,” which involves an immersion into the fantastic food of that country. And he has a new book out about his grub love, “Taste: My Life Through Food,” a semi-memoir sprinkled with some cooking tips.
On the big screen, he'll next appear as music mogul Clive Davis in a biopic of Whitney Houston, entitled "I Wanna Dance with Somebody," which is due out later this year.
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