Johnny Ruffo gives hearbreaking cancer update to Carrie Bickmore

Aussie singer and actor Johnny Ruffo sat down with Carrie Bickmore on The Project last night for an emotional update on his brain cancer battle.

Australian singer and actor Johnny Ruffo sat down for an emotional interview with Carrie Bickmore on last night’s episode of The Project, giving fans a sad update on his ongoing battle with brain cancer.

Ruffo, 34, shot to fame as a finalist on the third season of The X Factor in 2011, later starring on Home And Away before he was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2017.

In last night’s episode of The Project, he sat down with Bickmore, a passionate brain cancer charity advocate since losing husband Greg Lange to the illness in 2010.

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Johnny Ruffo and Carrie Bickmore sat down for an emotional chat on The Project last night.

And sadly, the news is not good: Bickmore told viewers that Ruffo’s cancer is terminal.

“At some point it will get me, but I’m still fighting, still kicking on,” he said.

“Looking up my diagnosis and my tumour, the average life expectancy was three years. And for me it’s now been five years. I’m already winning. My goal now is to try and help as many people as I can and also live a happy life.”

Ruffo – who has released a new memoir, No Finish Line, detailing his cancer battle so far – said he was still able to see some funny moments in his difficult situation.

Ruffo said he worries about how partner Tahnee Sims would cope with his death. Picture: Toby Zerna

Bickmore raised one particularly memorable passage of his book, detailing the awkwardness of having his mother drive him to a sperm bank so that he could donate a sample collected in case he or partner Tahnee Sims wanted to try to have a baby later on.

“Don’t. Don’t!” Ruffo groaned when Bickmore brought it up. “Mum’s sitting in the waiting room and I’m having a w**k.”

Ruffo shortly after he shot to fame on The X-Factor.

Undergoing chemo treatment for brain cancer.

Bickmore said that there was now no thought of children for Ruffo and Sims.

“You can only imagine how difficult it’s been for her,” Ruffo said of his 27-year-old girlfriend.

“What plays in my head a lot is, I hate to say this, how hard it may be for her if something does happen to me. It’s something that I don’t want to think about. It gets me a little bit emotional, because I know at some point something will happen, whether it’s a month from now or 10 years from now or 20 years.”

And Ruffo also revealed the one piece of advice he cops from wellwishers that drives him mad: “Stay positive.”

Bickmore is a passionate advocate for brain cancer research with her Carrie's Beanies for Brain Cancer Foundation.

“It really annoys me, because positivity doesn’t cure cancer,” he said.

“I am the most positive person going round. And I’m like, do you think I’m not being positive? And if I die, it’s because I wasn’t positive?”

Viewers flooded social media with messages of support as the interview was posted across The Project’s channels last night.

“Big hugs Johnny, what an amazing honest interview. Carrie I just felt so much for you in this interview – you understand totally,” one viewer wrote on Facebook.

“So sad to hear that it’s terminal. Was such a great interview, it’s heartbreaking,” said another.

“Beautiful interview, my heart breaks for you Johnny,” wrote another.

Back on The Project panel, a visibly emotional Bickmore spoke frankly to her co-hosts after the interview had aired.

“He’s got such a beautiful outlook, but it’s real tough journey he’s on. I know he hates the word journey as well, but he’s in the middle of it, and … it’s sh*t.”

Originally published as Johnny Ruffo gives hearbreaking cancer update to Carrie Bickmore