Sam Neill gives cancer journey update

Sam Neill has given an update on his cancer journey and explained what he thinks may have been a contributing factor to his “brush” with the disease.

Sam Neill has given an update on his cancer journey and said he wouldn’t be alive today if medical advancements had not been made to treat the disease.

The Jurassic Park actor was diagnosed with stage 3 angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma - a a rare type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2022, and underwent chemotherapy treatment after his cancer diagnosis.

But it stopped working after three months. He then began taking a rare anti-cancer drug and he is now in remission.

In conversation with Kate Thornton on her White Wine Question Time podcast, the 77-year-old Hollywood star said he was now back at work after taking a break from acting.

“I’m in remission and as you see, I’m hard at work and enjoying life immensely,” he said.

“I’m very grateful for not just the wonderful care I’ve had from doctors and nurses and so on, but also the strides that have been made in treating these things in the last few years.”

He added: “If this had happened to me 20 years ago, I wouldn’t be around to talk to you.”

Sam Neill in The Twelve. Picture: David Dare Parker

Neill, who stars in the BINGE court-related drama series The Twelve, also gave an update on his cancer treatment, saying there are good and bad days.

“I go in (for treatment) once a month now. But it used to be three times a month and it’s down to once a month now,” he said.

Actor Sam Neill as seen on Kate Thornton's White Wine Question Time podcast talking about his cancer battles and modern medicine. Picture: Instagram

You have sort of three or four horrible days afterwards, and then all is well and you cheer up and I go to the gym and all that.”

The Peaky Blinders actor first revealed news of his cancer battle in his book ‘Did I Ever Tell You This’ which he started work on following his diagnosis.

In the podcast, Neill, who runs the Two Paddocks vineyards, also touched on what could be a contibuting factor to his cancer by saying: “I’ve had a brush or two with cancer and I completely put that down to agrochemicals back when I was younger.”

“I had a holiday job once and we were covered from head to toe, we didn’t have masks or protective clothing, but we were spraying all these terible things some of which are still used ... alot of it in the wine industry.

“The main thing we were doing is killing gorse (an agricultural weed), which is a terrible menace.

Sam Neill is in remission and back at work. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

“It’s a terrible curse, it just takes over the land, it’s prickly and no one likes it, and so we were spraying with what was effectively Agent Orange — that’s the stuff that they used in Vietnam.”

Neill conceded “the problem with cancer of course is you can’t prove anything” but said he was “bitterly opposed” to alot of stuff used in agriculture and food manufacturing and the wine industry that is not organic.

He also opened up about his family and said he doesn’t “pretend to be the greatest father in the world” and was “always working hard” to provide for his three children.

“They (his children) probably didn’t see as much of me as they probably should have,” he said.

The New Zealand based actor also talked about his animals on his farm that he has named after Hollywood actors he is close friends with including Helena Bonham Carter and Annette Bening.

He recently starred alongside Bening in the TV series that brought Australian author Liane Moriarty’s book Apples Never Fall to life.

Neill has been shooting a Netflix murder mystery TV mini series called Untamed in Vancouver, Canada, which also stars Australian actor Eric Bana.