Jeff Bridges’ Health Troubles Were More Serious Than Anyone Knew

“The Dude Abides,” despite some scary almost-brushes with death amidst his health struggle the past few years. As Jeff Bridges told E! News in September, his dual struggle with lymphoma and COVID-19 left him completely immunocompromised. “I was just really at death’s door a couple of times there,” he admitted. After over four months of hospitalization, Bridges confessed he even wondered if he would act again — or attend daughter Hayley Roselouise Bridges’ September 2021 wedding (he ultimately did, however!). In fact, it was Haley’s wedding that further motivated Jeff to push his cancer into remission that very month. “I had a goal — walking my daughter Hayley down the aisle,” Jeff wrote on his website at the time (via People).

As “The Old Man” star told E!, his family and his team of doctors and trainers were all instrumental in bringing him back from “surrender mode.” Furthermore, although Jeff certainly met his load of struggles facing lymphoma and COVID-19 simultaneously, he told People in May that the ordeal enhanced his “ability to receive all the love and give it.” As he put it, “Everything was turned up in the most beautiful way.”