Rocky star issues health update months after doctors declaring he's cancer-free

Dolph Lundgren has issued a health update just 10 months after he declared he is officially cancer-free. The Rocky star told the press at the BAFTA TV Tea Party in Beverly Hills that he is feeling "very well" after triumphing over the disease last year. He added: "NED, they call it. No evidence of disease."

The Swedish Hollywood actor, 67, revealed that he had privately battled cancer for eight years, with the actor first diagnosed with lung cancer back in 2015. After going into remission, the cancer returned in 2020, with doctors warning him he only had two to three years left to live.

He said: "It was a tough fight to have for about five years. Actually, about three bad years, but not it's better - so I'm back to normal, working out."

While his workouts are now less intense, Lundgren insists that he can still do "everything" he did before receiving the devastating diagnosis. The actor told People magazine: "I've calmed down a little bit. I don't stay out as late, I don't work out as hard, but I do hit the gym four, five times a week. I am just a little kinder to myself physically, I think."

In a recent social media update, he reflected on how his perspective has changed since his illness, writing: "Every day, I'm more grateful for everything I have and everything the universe has given me, and I try to really enjoy the people I love-my kids, my wife, and my friends.

"It's been a big eye-opener, and it's actually been a positive experience for me, I think. If I hadn't had cancer, I may have done a crazy stunt and killed myself that way, because I was just a little bit too intense before."

Lundgren, who shares daughters Ida, 29, and Greta, 23, with his first wife Anette Qviberg, married Emma Krodal back in 2023. He has speculated that the steroids he took during his bodybuilding and action film career could have contributed to his ill health.

He admitted in a previous social media post: "I tried steroids back in the '80s and '90s. 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." Discussing his 2020 relapse, Lundgren said: "In 2020, I was back in Sweden, and I had some kind of acid reflux, I didn't know what it was, so I did an MRI.

"They found that there were a few more tumours around that area. They found one more tumour in the liver, so I was like aw s**t, okay. At that point, it started to hit me that this was something serious.

"The surgeons called me and said it had grown, it was too big, it had grown to the size of a small lemon. I asked them how long do I have left, I think he said two to three years but I could tell in his voice he thought it was less. I thought that was it for sure."

After getting a second opinion, the actor began treatment and went in for surgery to remove multiple tumours, recalling: "It's the day after my surgery, they took out one tumour, then they took out another two they found and another three small ones. Hopefully it's cleaned out, if it dies, it dies."

He declared he was cancer-free last November in an emotional announcement. At the time, he wrote: "Health update - finally cancer free with gratefulness and excitement for a bright future. Thanks for all your support always."