Actor Dolph Lundgren, known for playing Ivan Drago in “Rocky IV,” has revealed in a new memoir that during his years-long fight with cancer, he seriously considered ending his own life rather than let his family watch him deteriorate.
Lundgren, 68, was first diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2015 after doctors found a tumor. He had surgery to remove it and went on to appear in films including “Creed II” and “Aquaman.” But after five cancer-free years, doctors found new tumors in 2020. The disease had spread to his liver, both lungs, his spine, and around his left kidney.
In his memoir, “Fights Worth Fighting: Finding Strength in Struggle,” Lundgren describes the toll the diagnosis took on him and his family.
“I had a lot of difficult conversations with myself,” Lundgren told Fox News Digital. “I definitely had a few tough ones. Of course, as most older men do, you do estate planning. You plan your will and who’s going to get what. But in this case, it was around the corner. It was something I had to plan a little more in detail, like funerals and trying to figure out where I would be, what would be better for my family. Planning your own funeral is kind of a saying, but I literally was doing that. That was tough.”
Lundgren said that at his lowest point, he considered ending his life rather than continue suffering.
“At some point, which was even harder, I started thinking, ‘Do I really want to be in bed weighing 60 pounds and having people come and see me like that? Or should I just end it myself?’ I started considering that. I spoke to my brother. We made a deal, and he would help me out if it came to that, if I made that decision. But it was a tough conversation.”
In the book, Lundgren wrote that his brother, Johan, had agreed to help him if he decided to go through with it, since Lundgren worried he might not be physically capable of ending his life on his own by the time he reached that point. He noted that some European countries, including Switzerland, permit legal assisted death for people who are terminally ill, but that he might still have needed help. He wrote that once he began seeing a new doctor and started feeling better,
