Stanley Tucci says he had cancer 3 years ago

By Hayley FitzPatrick

Stanley Tucci is opening up on his past cancer diagnosis.

In a new interview with Virgin Atlantic's inflight magazine Vera, the 60-year-old award-winning actor revealed he was diagnosed with a tumor at the base of his tongue three years ago.

"It was too big to operate, so they had to do high-dose radiation and chemo," he reflected.

The actor said he is now in remission and the cancer is not likely to come back.

While reflecting on his experience with the disease, Tucci opened up about how his life has been touched by cancer before, which shaped his feelings going into his treatment.

"I'd vowed I'd never do anything like that, because my first wife died of cancer, and to watch her go through those treatments for years was horrible," he said about his first wife, Kate.

Stanley and Kate Tucci married in 1995, and they were together until she died from breast cancer in 2009, when she was 47 years old.

Tucci, a father of five, also spoke about how his children were affected by his illness.

"The kids were great, but it was hard for them," he said. "I had a feeding tube for six months."

"I could barely make it to the twins' high school graduation," he added.

Along with the twins, Isabel and Nicolo, 21, Stanley and Kate Tucci also had a daughter, Camilla, 19. The actor has two younger kids, Matteo, 6, and Emilia, 3, with his current wife, Felicity Blunt.

The actor explained to Vera how his experience with the disease influenced his outlook on life.

"(Cancer) makes you more afraid and less afraid at the same time," he said. "I feel much older than I did before I was sick. But you still want to get ahead and get things done."