Stanley Tucci Details Brutal Lingering Side Effect of Cancer Treatment
The beloved Oscar-nominated actor was diagnosed with oropharyngeal cancer in 2017.

Stanley Tucci knew something was seriously wrong when he would get tired by early afternoon. The Oscar-nominated actor visited his doctor to find out what was happening. And to his relief, he wasn't diagnosed with something else following his 2017 cancer diagnosis. But undergoing treatments to fight that cancer had lasting effects on him, and it explained the fatigue.
The Devil Wears Prada star recently appeared on David Tennant's podcast and shared that undergoing a series of chemotherapy and radiation treatments to fight oral cancer resulted in burning his thyroid.
"I would be so tired in the afternoon, like completely exhausted by one o'clock," said Tucci about filming his hit CNN travel series Searching For Italy. "I was like, 'Something's wrong with me.' Finally I had a blood test and I was like, 'I know something's f--king wrong with me.' And my thyroid was nonfunctioning."
The thyroid produces hormones that help regulate metabolism, heart rate and blood pressure. At first the 64-year-old thought stress was affecting his thyroid. But doctors found the true culprit.
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"What happened was because I had radiation six, seven years ago, it burned out my thyroid," he shared.
Tucci said he still gets tired in the afternoon, but medication, he said, has "made a huge difference."
Tucci is now in remission. He kept the cancer diagnosis a secret until 2021, when he shared that he quietly battled cancer after doctors discovered a tumor at the base of his tongue. He initially had pain in his mouth, and a visit to the dentist ultimately led him to visit his doctor.
In his memoir, Taste: My Life Through Food, Tucci shared in 2021 that he almost lost his love for food following his cancer diagnosis.
Tucci lost his first wife, Kate, to breast cancer in 2009. He married Felicity Blunt in 2012.