Stanley Tucci shares 2 things he can't eat after throat cancer
Ben Williams
Featured Image Credit: NBC/Contributor/Getty Images
Stanley Tucci has spoken candidly about the lasting impact of cancer treatment, years after being diagnosed with a tumour at the base of his tongue.
The actor, best known for films including The Devil Wears Prada and Conclave, was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2017 and underwent chemotherapy and radiation.
Tucci is now in remission, but the treatment changed his relationship with food long after the cancer itself was treated.
That has made his TV work especially challenging to an extent, as he continues to front food and travel shows built around Italy and regional stories.
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In a recent Sky News interview, Tucci reflected on making a food show after losing his sense of taste.
Whilst he has been able to return to eating and enjoying food, there are still two things that cause problems: fruit and spice.
In a clip from the interview shared on X (formerly Twitter), speaking about what he still struggles with, Tucci said: “Fruit is hard. Fruit will still taste weird to me. I don't know why.”
“I can't eat any spice because this is so compromised, and you lose your saliva…you lose the ability to swallow normally, because this is all scar tissue in here…so, you have to be very careful about what you eat.”
For someone whose career has become so tied to food, it is a particularly difficult side effect.
Tucci previously said his treatment affected his ability to eat, speak, and swallow properly, with reports saying he relied on a feeding tube for six months.
The celebrity actor has also described how food tasted during treatment, saying anything he ate tasted like cardboard ‘slathered with someone's excrement’, as he once told The New York Times.
He has admitted that the thought of never enjoying food again was terrifying, especially given how much of his life has been shaped by cooking, eating and sharing meals.
Still, he has continued to throw himself into food projects, and his enthusiasm for Italy has clearly not disappeared.
During his conversation with Sky News, Tucci said: “I'm fascinated by Italy, endlessly fascinated by it. You could sort of do this for the rest of your life. You might drop dead doing it, but, you know.
“And we specifically choose stories that are off the beaten track, even if it's in a major city, because those are the most interesting stories. Otherwise, you're not really getting the truth. You're getting a kind of...”
Tucci has also recently opened up about another delayed effect of his cancer treatment.
Speaking on David Tennant Does A Podcast With…, he said he noticed something was wrong while filming Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy — as he became exhausted in the afternoon, as noted by The Independent.
He said: “I would be so tired in the afternoon, like completely exhausted by one o’clock.”
After blood tests, Tucci found out his thyroid was no longer functioning properly.
He added: “What happened was because I had radiation six, seven years ago, it burned out my thyroid.”
He now takes synthetic thyroid hormone, though he has said his energy levels are still not fully back to normal.