Mark Ruffalo has explained why he initially waited to tell his wife, Sunrise Coigney, that he had a brain tumor.
The 56-year-old actor spoke candidly about his health during an episode of Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Sean Hayes' podcast. Intelligent, which aired on January 22. During the conversation, Ruffalo recalled that “after the success of You can count on me,” which came out in 2000, he discovered he had a brain tumor. He later noted that during that discovery, his wife was expecting his first child, Keen, now 22 years old.
“Sunrise was about nine and a half months pregnant and the baby was about to be born,” Ruffalo recalled. He also described his hectic work schedule at the time, before recalling the unconventional way she first found out about the brain tumour.
“I got one of those calls at 4 a.m., and I woke up probably around 3 a.m. and had this crazy dream. It wasn't like any other dream I'd ever had. It was like, 'You have a brain tumor,'” she explained. “It wasn't even a voice. It was just pure knowledge: 'You have a brain tumor and you have to treat it immediately.'”
He 13 going on 30 The star specified that while she had no symptoms of the brain tumor at the time, she said she still had “an ear infection that night” that hurt. She later noted that because of her dream, she was encouraged to talk to the doctor on the set of one of her movies about her health.
“I said, 'Listen, this is going to sound crazy, but last night I dreamed I had a brain tumor,'” he said. “[The doctor] He said, 'That's crazy. But there's no reason you should worry about that. I'll order a CT scan for you and we'll leave after work today.'”
Ruffalo noted that while the doctor joked that he was “crazy” for wanting to be checked after the dream, it was ultimately what led to his diagnosis.
“[The doctor] “Walks in and she looks like a zombie,” he continued. “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 know until a biopsy is done.'”
The actor acknowledged that after his doctor found the mass he waited to tell his wife because she was still pregnant. “I didn't tell Sunny because she had the birth planned,” he said. “She did yoga, she had the doula. We have the jacuzzi organized.”
According to Ruffalo, it wasn't until a week after her son was born that she returned to the neurologist to have the mass removed. He also shared that just before that procedure, he then shared his diagnosis with his wife.
“When I told Sunny, at first she thought I was joking,” he explained. “And then she burst into tears and said, 'I always knew you were going to die young!'”
He poor things Star added that while his tumor was benign, he was still left “completely deaf in one ear” after surgery. Additionally, he said that when he woke up from the procedure, the left side of his face was “totally paralyzed” and he couldn't even close one eye. However, according to Ruffalo, he was aware of the risks of the surgery beforehand.
“[The doctors] “I said he had 20 percent cuts in the nerve on the left side of his face and I killed him,” he explained. “And then I have a 70 percent chance of losing my hearing, which is gone.”
He then added that he wasn't necessarily worried about some of these side effects, as his main goal was to be there for his family. “Take my audition, but let me keep my face and let me be the father of these kids,” Ruffalo said.
Four years after welcoming Keen, Ruffalo and his wife welcomed their second daughter, Bella, who is now 18 years old. In 2007, the couple welcomed another daughter, Odette, who is now 16 years old.
This is not the first time Ruffalo has spoken about his health, specifically his dream of having a brain tumor. During an interview with W Magazine In 2011, he revealed for the first time that he had a “crazy dream,” before waking up and “just knew [he] “I had a brain tumor.” He also recounted his doctor's reaction to the CT scan, in which the mass was discovered.
“They told me: 'You have a mass behind your left ear and you will have to remove it.' We don't know what it is exactly, but we think it's operable,'” Ruffalo recalled. He then described how he cared for the tumor at the time, before acknowledging how the situation changed his perspective on everyday life.
“Just deal with it. You continue. “I am fine now, I only lost hearing in one ear,” she said. Now you see Me the star explained. “I see it as a kind of gift in a strange way. Your priorities become very clear. My relationship with acting became very clear.”
