Sam Neill's Sad Final Days: 'Jurassic Park' Star's Ex Reveals Actor Got 'Sick' in Recent Weeks as Cancer Treatment Took Toll on His 'Exhausted' Body
Sam Neill’s ex has opened up about his declining health.
July 14 2026, Published 4:01 p.m. ET
Jurassic Park star Sam Neill’s ex has opened up about his "unexpected" death, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Laura Tingle, who dated the actor between 2018 and 2021, said he became ill in recent weeks after fighting cancer took a toll on his body.
'A Lot of Chemo and Immunotherapy'
Neill's body was impacted by his cancer treatment, his ex claimed.
"The bottom line is he’d been fighting various forms of cancer for at least the last five years, intensively," she explained. "That takes a toll on anybody’s body. He’d had a lot of chemo and a lot of immunotherapy."
Speaking to Sunday Mornings, the Australian journalist added: "Thankfully, it had finally cleared him of the blood cancer that he had. But that left him pretty compromised in terms of his immune system."
"I think his poor old body sort of got a bit exhausted," she shared.
'Too Much to Recover From One More Time'
The actor bravely fought cancer for a number of years.
Tingle claimed Neill had been "sick for the last couple of weeks."
"Everybody who loved him has been willing him on from near and far, but I think it was just a bit too much to recover from one more time," she said.
On Monday, Neill’s family announced he'd passed away at age 78.
"It is with immense sadness that the whānau (family) of Sam Neill share the news of his passing on Monday 13th July, in Sydney," a representative for the Peaky Blinders actor's loved ones posted on Neill's Instagram account.
"Sam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterized his whole life," the statement continued. "The loss was sudden and unexpected but blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer-free."
'The Chemo Stopped Working'
Neill had alternative cancer treatment after chemotherapy was unsuccessful.
Rima Te Wiata, who appeared alongside Neill in the 2016 comedy Hunt for the Wilderpeople, told the New Zealand Herald that he had pneumonia before he died.
Neill, best known for playing Alan Grant in the Jurassic Park franchise, announced in April that tests had found he was cancer-free. He had been battling a type of blood cancer and claimed a costly, cutting-edge treatment prolonged his life, after chemotherapy stopped working.
"I've been living with a particular type of lymphoma for about five years, and I was on chemotherapy, and it's a pretty miserable business, but it was keeping me alive," he said at the time. "Then the chemo stopped working. I was at a loss, and it looked like I was on the way out, which wasn't ideal, obviously."
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Neill was looking forward to making movies after being declared cancer-free.
Neill underwent a special treatment called CAR T-cell therapy, which genetically modifies a patient's own T-cells to recognize and destroy cancer cells. Private treatment costs around $540,000 AUD or just over $375,000 USD.
"I've just had a scan just now and there is no cancer in my body, that's an extraordinary thing. I'm very, very excited that this can happen," he shared with fans.
The treatment is currently in clinical trials to fight another blood cancer, myeloma.
Neill, who was married twice and fathered four children, also said he was planning to make a return to acting.
"It's time I did another movie," he said.
