Mark Ruffalo says 'crazy dream' urged him to get help for undiagnosed brain tumor

Mark Ruffalo has said a 'crazy dream' urged him to get help surrounding an undiagnosed brain tumor.

In 2000, the Poor Things actor had a dream he was diagnosed with a brain tumor and shortly after, that dream became a reality.

The 56-year-old has since spoken out about his diagnosis and having to tell his wife, Sunrise Coigney.

Earlier this week, in Monday's (January 22) episode of SmartLess podcast, Ruffalo sat down with Jason Bateman, Sean Haynes and Will Arnett to open up about the diagnosis and how it impacted him and his family.

In the podcast episode, the actor explained he was diagnosed with the brain tumor after the 'success of You Can Count on Me', and after having a dream which 'wasn't like any other dream' he'd 'ever had'.

Speaking of the crazy dream, the Marvel star said: "I had one of those 4am calls, and I woke up probably around 3am, and I just had this crazy dream. It wasn’t like any other dream I’d ever had. It was just like, 'You have a brain tumor'.

"It wasn't even a voice. It was just pure knowledge, 'You have a brain tumor, and you have to deal with it immediately'."

Ruffalo did not have any symptoms at the time, though he did note an 'ear infection that night' that was hurting.

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Understandably spooked by the dream, Ruffalo decided to speak to the doctor on the set of one of his movies about his health.

"I said 'Listen, this is going to sound crazy, but I had this dream last night that I had a brain tumor'," he said.

"[The doctor] said 'That is crazy. But there’s no reason that you should have to worry about it. I’ll order you a CAT scan, and we’ll go after work today'."

Despite the doctor joking about it being 'crazy', the results of the scan surprised everyone.

"[The doctor] comes in, and she kind of looks like a zombie," Ruffalo added.

"And she says 'you have a mass behind your left ear the size of a golf ball. We don’t know what it is, we can’t tell until it’s biopsied'."

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Thankfully, the tumor was benign and Ruffalo was told it was operable.

However, it didn't take away from the risks of the surgery and Ruffalo's dread to tell his wife the news.

"I couldn't tell Sunny. She had the birth plan, she did the yoga, she had the doula," he said.

The actor ultimately held off telling his wife until after she'd given birth to their first born, Keen, with the actor noting he only told her the night before his appointment to 'meet the neurologist'.

"When I told Sunny about it, first she thought I was joking. And then she just burst into tears and said, 'I always knew you were gonna die young,'" Ruffalo recalled.