Dolph Lundgren’s fiancée has said her partner is a ‘real-life superhero’ after he revealed he’s secretly been dealing with an ongoing journey with cancer for the past eight years.
Lundgren, 65, has spoken out about his cancer for the first time in a new interview, revealing that doctors first found a tumour in his kidney back in 2015.
While they were able to remove it and ‘things were fine’ for several years, an MRI in 2020 after he started experiencing acid reflux revealed there were ‘a few more tumours’ in his abdominal area.
Speaking on In Depth with Graham Bensinger, the Rocky IV star explained how he underwent surgery to remove six tumours, but then got a call from the doctor to say they’d found another in the liver the size of a ‘small lemon’.
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At this point, he said he knew it was ‘something serious’ and ‘thought it was it for sure’, but later had something of a breakthrough after seeking a second opinion from Dr Alexandra Drakakai, who found a mutation in one of the growths that's common among lung cancer sufferers.
This allowed specialists to try other treatments, and within three months ‘things were shrinking by 20 to 30 percent’.
“Hopefully, when they take these out, there’s no cancer activity and the medication that I’m taking is going to suppress everything else,” Lundgren said.
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After talking candidly about his health in the new show, his 25-year-old fiancée Emma Krokdal has praised her partner.
Posting a clip from the interview on her Instagram Stories, Krokdal said: “Real life superhero.”
Dad-of-two Lundgren has been engaged to Krokdal since 2020, with wedding plans put on hold due to Covid.
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In a previous interview with journalist Kjersti Flaa, the couple opened up about their relationship, with Krokdal describing how she fell in love with the movie star.
"First time I met him he asked me if I knew a place he could box," she said.
Lundgren was travelling for a while, but when he returned to the US, they met up again.
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"I don't really watch boxing or action movies so I had no idea who he was," Krokdal said.
Lundgren said their romance happened ‘very gradually’, adding: “It never felt forced - or that we rushed into it."
As for whether their 40-year age gap is an obstacle, he went on: "When I met Emma I realised it would be a bit strange telling my daughters about her.
"But they are both very open and emotionally mature, and I have always been very open with them about everything."
Jess Hardiman