Actor Sam Neill has reassured fans he is "fine" after revealing he has been battling stage three blood cancer and is "possibly dying".
The Jurassic Park star, 75, had revealed he was being treated for cancer in an extract from his upcoming memoir, Did I Ever Tell You This.
Speaking to the BBC, Neill revealed that he was diagnosed with Stage 3 cancer back in March 2022 after doctors found he had "a ferocious type of aggressive" non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
He revealed that writing his memoir over the past year had provided him with a distraction and gave him "a reason to get through the day".
Neill had been diagnosed while promoting the third movie in the "requel" series of Jurassic Park last year, in which he was reunited with his original co-star, Laura Dern.
While on the promotional tour, Neill noticed he had "lumpy glands in his neck", which later turned out to be cancer.
This spurred him on to write a book about his life, in part to distract himself from treatment, admitting: "I didn't think I had a book in me, I just thought I'd write some stories. And I found it increasingly engrossing. A year later, not only have I written the book - I didn't have a ghostwriter - but it's come out in record time.
"I suspect my publishers, they're delightful people, but I think they wanted to get it out in a hurry just in case I kicked the bucket before it was time to release the thing."
Neill underwent chemotherapy, and though he did not respond well to the early rounds, he was then put on a new chemo drug which had an incredible effect on his condition.
He also revealed that while he will have to take the drug for the rest of his life, he is now in remission, adding: "I'm not afraid of dying, what I don't want to do is to stop living, because I really enjoy living."
Following the news of his cancer diagnosis, Neill took to Instagram on Saturday to clarify that he is doing well despite his earlier comments that he was "possibly dying".
He shared a video telling his fans: "Hi I’m Sam Neill, actor of sorts, vintner, and an author as it happens. And my news seems to be all over the news at the moment, and it’s sort of ‘Cancer! Cancer! Cancer!’ Which is slightly tiresome because as you see, I am alive and well and I have been in remission for eight months, which feels really good.
"And I’m alive and kicking and I’m going to work. I’m very happy to be going back to work. We start filming in seven days time. I’m doing a thing called ‘Apples Never Fall’ with Annette Bening, and a really wonderful cast.
"So here I am, and I just wish the headline wasn’t ‘that thing’ so much, because the main thing is that I have written this book, it’s called ‘Did I Ever Tell You This?’. And it does mention cancer because that’s the sort of context in which I wrote it."
He said that the response to his book has been "great", adding: "So I hope you enjoy it and let’s not worry too much about ‘all that’ because I’m fine. Okay!"
We wish him all the best for the future amid his ongoing recovery.
Did I Ever Tell you This? will be available on March 21.