Jeff Bridges' Final Days — Acting Icon, 75, Tells How He's Ticking Off Bucket List After Cancer and Covid Battles… and Losing His Home in L.A. Wildfires
Bridges was diagnosed with cancer in 2020.
April 14 2025, Published 6:38 p.m. ET
Jeff Bridges is spending his final days checking off his bucket list.
RadarOnline.com can reveal how the Hollywood icon, 75, isn't afraid to step outside his comfort zone after being diagnosed with cancer, battling COVID and losing his home in the California wildfires.
Bridges opened up about life after quite a few rocky years in the new interview.
In an interview with the New York Times, Bridges opened up about the last few years and how he has a new perspective.
Back in 2020, he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma after a trip to the doctor revealed a 9 by 12-inch tumor in his stomach.
The icon then underwent chemotherapy and extensive physical therapy, but he contracted COVID-19 during his treatment.
In 2022, Bridges told E! News: "The chemo wipes out your immune system, and when COVID hit me, I had nothing to fight it. I was just really at death's door a couple of times there."
Bridges announced his cancer was in remission in September 2021 on his website, saying: "The 9 x 12 inch mass has shrunk down to the size of a marble."
In late 2024, the actor told People magazine: "I get MRIs and all that down the line, but my oncologist says, 'You're looking good, man.' And I get all my blood tests and everything, and everything's going real well."
The Bridges family lost their Malibu home to the California wildfires in 2025.
However, his bad luck continued earlier in 2025 when he lost his Malibu home to the California wildfires.
Despite the struggles during the last few years, the actor is still looking on the bright side and said to the NYT: "Only when you get to rub up against that shit...do you see the magic of life."
One major goal amid his health struggles was to walk his daughter down the aisle at her wedding, which he was able to accomplish.
Another bucket list item of his to check off – release an album.
Back in the 70s, between filming movies, Bridges got into a studio and started jamming out with some close pals.
He recorded a handful of songs at the time, which are now finally being released on an album called Slow Magic: 1977-1978.
The album got its start back in 2009, after Bridges developed a friendship with a musician called Keefus Ciancia, who was working on one of his films.
After Ciancia heard a rough version of some of the old songs, he sent them over to a specialist, Matt Sullivan of Light in the Attic.
Bridges got a phone call from Sullivan, who expressed interest in making an album with the songs.
The actor said: "Suddenly I get a call from Matt, saying, 'Hey, do you want to make an album of this?' You're kidding me! It's filled with clangs, and it's certainly not polished. But then I thought: ah, what the hell."
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Jeff Bridges turns to music following his battle with cancer.
Bridges further explained how the album was created and said: "It all started with an old school friend called Steve Baim. He was always a little bit crazier than everyone else, and we would meet at his house each Wednesday night where there was one rule: no songs allowed.
"It was all improv. At the same time I was actually writing songs, some of them inspired by those Wednesday jams, while filming a movie called Hearts of the West.
"There is so much music around movie sets: actors often play guitar, and you have a lot of downtime between scenes. It came from that period."
