Gwyneth Paltrow details shocked reaction to mother Blythe Danner having same cancer as her father
Gwyneth Paltrow and her family faced the unimaginable after her father, Bruce Paltrow, found out that he had oral cancer in 1999, later passing away from it in 2002.
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Therefore, it was all the more scary for the Paltrow bunch when sixteen years later, her mother, actress Blythe Danner, discovered a lump in her throat "right next" to where her late husband had first felt his.
Blythe opened up to People Magazine for the first time about her journey with adenoid cystic carcinoma, a rare form of oral cancer, announcing that after four years – including three surgeries, chemotherapy, and radiation – she was finally in remission.
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"I was obviously very shocked," said Gwyneth, who also chatted to the publication, adding that: "It was scary. And it felt really eerie because it was so similar [to my dad's]."
Blythe revealed that she had initially withheld telling the scary news to her daughter and her youngest son, Jake Paltrow, explaining: "I kept it from my kids for a long time," and that: "I wanted to forge ahead as a mother, and I didn't want them to worry."
Now her daughter maintains: "She went through it with so much grace," adding that: "I was amazed at how strong she was able to be."
Bruce, who was a producer, passed away in 2002
The Meet the Parents actress, recalling first learning of her diagnosis, of course immediately thought of her late husband, to whom she was married to for thirty-three years, and said: "Everyone is touched by cancer in some way, but it's unusual for a couple to have the same cancer."
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She was first diagnosed in March 2018, and she revealed that: "I remember I looked up at heaven and said to Bruce, 'Are you lonely up there?'"
Bruce and Blythe wed in 1969
The mother-of-two also added: "It's a sneaky disease. But I'm fine and dandy now. And I'm lucky to be alive."
Throughout it, she maintained she didn't have "any fear of death," explaining how her views on mortality shifted after the loss of her husband, however, she said: "You never get over that kind of loss," as well as: "Bruce was the heart of our family. And life is so much paler without him around. But grief is the price we pay for love."
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