Sir Ian McKellen revealed that he’s been battling prostate cancer for the last “six or seven years.” Luckily, the “Lord of the Rings” actor said doctors have contained the disease.
“When you have got it, you monitor it, and you have to be careful it doesn’t spread,” the two-time Oscar nominee explained to the Daily Mirror yesterday. “But if it is contained in the prostate it’s no big deal. Many, many men die from it, but it’s one of the cancers that is totally treatable … I am examined regularly, and it’s just contained, it’s not spreading. I’ve not had any treatment.”
The veteran actor, 73, added he feared for the worst at first. “You do gulp when you hear the news. It’s like when you go for an HIV test — you go ‘Argh, is this the end of the road?’ You monitor it and you have to be careful it doesn’t spread.”
McKellen now lives with the disease but emphasized the importance of early detection. He revealed that he noticed something was wrong when he had to use the bathroom frequently.
“At my age if it is diagnosed, it’s not life threatening,” he said.
McKellen is reprising his role as Gandalf in “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.”