Former Neighbours star Ian Smith opens up about cancer battle: ‘I was supposed to die in March’

Beloved Neighbours star Ian Smith says he has beaten the odds so far after doctors told him he was supposed to die in March, months after his cancer diagnosis.

Former Neighbours star Ian Smith has revealed he has beaten the odds so far after doctors told him he was supposed to die in March, just three short months after being diagnosed with “non-fixable” cancer.

The beloved Aussie actor gave an update on his cancer battle in an emotional interview on Seven’s The Morning Show on Wednesday, telling viewers he is “feeling great” despite his grim medical prognosis.

“Let me tell you, I have got cancer. I know that because doctors tell me I have. But apart from that, no pain,” the 86-year-old told hosts Larry Emdur and Kylie Gillies. “I get a bit nauseous sometimes, but that’s not much.”

Ian Smith has shared an update on his cancer battle.

The former Neighbours star says he feels great.

“I am having – oh, [I should] hold back from saying it – the easiest ride. Seriously. I mean, I think of the poor people who are having the worst possible cancers and I just say, ‘I’m sorry guys, but this is the way I’m doing it.’ And I don’t know how I did it that way, because it certainly wasn’t anything that I did.”

Smith – who played the loveable Harold Bishop on Neighbours for almost four decades – says that even he is surprised to still be around today after being told he only had months to live.

“I was supposed to die in March,” he said. “I’ve possibly never felt better. Everyone looks at me and they say, ‘Look at your hair.’ And they’re all jealous because I’ve got so much hair.”

Smith’s final episode of Neighbours aired in April.

But that’s not to say the actor didn’t lose his hair at the start of his treatment in December.

“Of course I went through the cancer thing. I started to lose my hair with the treatment, and then I went totally bald,” he recalled. “Then I went on to the immunotherapy and [got] a head full of curly hair. Not just hair, but curly hair.”

Smith knows all too well what cancer treatments entail after watching his wife Gail battle and then tragically die from cancer in 2019.

He says that when he used to accompany her to her treatments, there was always this “us and them” mentality. But after his diagnosis, his mind shifted when he became part of “them”.

“Something changed. I haven’t quite put my finger on what it is,” he said after doctors told him he had a rare and aggressive form of lung cancer.

“My wife died of cancer six years ago and I took her for her treatments. And I don’t know if any of you have been into the treatment room where people get chemo and so forth, and it was us and them in my head. It was us and them – and that included Gail, my wife.

With original Neighbours co-stars (from left to right) Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan and Anne Charleston. Picture: Supplied / Neighbours

“And now it’s them and us. Because now all of a sudden, I’m the one in the big, comfortable chair getting stuff fed into my arm. And it is different. You don’t belong to the rest of humanity. And I can’t tell you what the difference is. I’m the same person. I’m the same person with cancer. But I feel different. I’m very jealous of the other people, I am. There’s a jealousy, for sure.”

Following his cancer diagnosis, Smith departed his role as Harold after almost four decades to focus on his health. But it was hard to walk away from a character he had played since 1987. His last ever episode aired last month.

“It was a kick in the pants for me,” he said. “Cynical old me. I thought, ‘Oh, yeah, I’ve been to lots of these goodbyes and yeah, yeah, yeah. You love me. Yeah. Yeah, sure. I’m the best man in the world.’”

“[But] I got there and they meant it. And I didn’t know how to deal with it. I suddenly detected people with sincerity that they meant it.”

Originally published as Former Neighbours star Ian Smith opens up about cancer battle: ‘I was supposed to die in March’