Dolph Lundgren Reveals He Nearly Chose Assisted Suicide During Nine-Year Cancer Battle

Dolph Lundgren revealed that his almost decade-long battle with cancer became so dire that he considered assisted suicide during one of his lowest points. The 68-year-old actor talks about the ordeal in his new book, Fights Worth Fighting: Finding Strength in Struggle, out Sept. 22.

Lundgren, who rose to fame as Ivan Drago in Rocky IV, previously spoke of being diagnosed with cancer and having a poor prognosis before his doctors found out that he had been misdiagnosed. He is now cancer-free and has described the ordeal as something that changed his outlook on life.

In the book, he recounts reaching a point while receiving treatment when he had become totally disheartened with his future and discussed assisted suicide with his brother, Johan, while battling the emotional burden of his illness. That conversation, he has said, never bore fruit as a new round of tests soon changed things for the better.

How the Diagnosis Unfolded

Lundgren’s cancer journey began in 2015 when doctors discovered a tumor in his kidney. He kept his diagnosis private for the most part while continuing to work in Hollywood. It only got worse for the actor in 2020 when doctors discovered more tumors and warned him that he had only two or three more years to live, and the news was devastating to his family.

He said he feared most for his children and then-fiancée Emma Krokdal, who was about to face a potentially terminal illness. That was the point when Lundgren considered assisted suicide as an option.

A Second Opinion Changed Everything

A lifeline came for Lundgren when he went back to the hospital for a second opinion. It was then that oncologist Dr. Alexandra Drakaki discovered a mutation that was linked to lung cancer and that he had been misdiagnosed to begin with.

The actor received treatment based on the correct diagnosis, and his tumors began to shrink. He has since made going back for a second opinion a campaign when talking publicly about his ordeal with cancer.

Declared Cancer-Free in 2024

Lundgren announced in 2024 that he was cancer-free after having a lung ablation to remove what the doctors said was his last tumor. He has since spoken of the emotional toll that the illness took on him despite the good news.

In his recent conversation with Entertainment Weekly, he said he went through cancer survivorship therapy for the emotional trauma and spoke of the condition as leaving him feeling traumatized to the point of having to relearn how to live.

Instead of going back to his old self, Lundgren has said that the ordeal left him more appreciative of simple life joys and less self-critical.

Leaning on Family Through the Hardest Stretch

Lundgren has credited his closest ones with helping him get through the toughest time of his life. His children and Krokdal were important pillars in his cancer survival journey, despite his condition unfolding while he continued to work and take care of his daughters and build a relationship with Krokdal.

Lundgren recently opened up to TMZ about how his family gave him the motivation to go on with his treatment. He has said his outlook on life changed after his doctors discovered the misdiagnosis and he began to receive effective treatment.

Reflecting on What the Illness Taught Him

Besides his Hollywood stardom and his Rocky IV role as Ivan Drago, Lundgren’s new book, Fights Worth Fighting: Finding Strength in Struggle, talks about his formative years, his family life, and his almost four-decade-long career in Hollywood.

He spoke of his cancer battle as an eye-opener that taught him to be kinder to himself and change his outlook on life. Lundgren has described the ordeal as having taught him valuable lessons about confronting a vulnerable side of himself that he had hidden for the longest time.

What began as a devastating prognosis became a second opinion, a misdiagnosis, effective treatment, and Lundgren’s decision to share the toughest time of his life in a memoir while continuing to speak positively of the cancer survivorship experience.