WEBVTT - Stanley Tucci gets very personal 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:03.440 Hi everyone, I'm Katie Kuric, and this is next question. 0:00:05.160 --> 0:00:08.600 If you know me, and many of you probably do 0:00:08.760 --> 0:00:11.720 by now, you know that twenty three years ago I 0:00:11.760 --> 0:00:14.880 lost my husband Jay to calling cancer when he was 0:00:14.960 --> 0:00:17.760 just forty two or it's of course, we'll never describe 0:00:17.800 --> 0:00:19.920 how devastating this loss has been for me and my 0:00:20.000 --> 0:00:22.959 daughters and all of Jay's family as well, but the 0:00:23.000 --> 0:00:26.079 heartfelt and compassionate letters and cards that so many of 0:00:26.120 --> 0:00:29.000 you sent to me. Perhaps you also know that after 0:00:29.120 --> 0:00:32.200 his death, I dedicated much of my time to raising 0:00:32.240 --> 0:00:35.879 money for cancer research and spreading the word about the 0:00:35.920 --> 0:00:39.800 importance of getting screened. Hi, everybody, Here we are in 0:00:39.880 --> 0:00:44.880 my kitchen. It's about eighteen hours plus before I get 0:00:44.920 --> 0:00:48.400 my first call Inoscopy, and I also co founded with 0:00:48.520 --> 0:00:52.479 the number of other strong willed women, Stand Up to Cancer. 0:00:53.200 --> 0:00:58.120 It's been incredibly gratifying, but losing a partner and losing 0:00:58.200 --> 0:01:01.440 the father of my daughters isn't something you ever really 0:01:01.480 --> 0:01:05.959 get over, and frankly, it was and still is hard 0:01:06.000 --> 0:01:09.600 to explain to anyone who hasn't gone through it how 0:01:09.640 --> 0:01:14.679 excruciating it is to watch someone you love deteriorate. No, 0:01:14.920 --> 0:01:18.720 they can't know what it's like they can never know 0:01:18.880 --> 0:01:24.000 what it's like. Stanley Tucci understands. He lost his wife 0:01:24.080 --> 0:01:27.480 Kate to breast cancer in two thousand nine and became 0:01:27.520 --> 0:01:31.080 a member of a unique club of widows and widowers 0:01:31.560 --> 0:01:36.680 people who understand. So when I recently interviewed Stanley about 0:01:36.680 --> 0:01:40.119 his charming new memoir called Taste My Life Through Food, 0:01:40.880 --> 0:01:44.440 I wanted to ask him about his own recently disclosed 0:01:44.480 --> 0:01:48.960 cancer diagnosis, as well as our shared experience of losing 0:01:48.960 --> 0:01:53.120 our partners and co parents. Stanley and Kate had three 0:01:53.200 --> 0:01:58.920 kids together when their mom was diagnosed. She was diagnosed 0:01:59.000 --> 0:02:05.680 at stage four I mean, which unfortunately is is too common, 0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:08.959 and there was you know, she struggled for four years. 0:02:09.639 --> 0:02:13.400 My husband was diagnosed at stage four two. It was 0:02:13.639 --> 0:02:19.200 and you know, it was just so sick and uh, 0:02:19.280 --> 0:02:22.360 you know, only live for nine months. So I totally 0:02:22.639 --> 0:02:25.520 relate to that. And you keep thinking, well, you have 0:02:25.639 --> 0:02:28.320 to be really really sick to get really really to 0:02:28.440 --> 0:02:32.560 get well. But you keep hoping against hope that well, yeah, 0:02:33.160 --> 0:02:36.799 maybe you'll be that small percentage of people who respond, 0:02:37.000 --> 0:02:39.359 or maybe a new treatment will come along that will 0:02:39.400 --> 0:02:42.440 also you know, keep you going until an even better 0:02:42.480 --> 0:02:46.280 treatment comes along. Um. I write a lot about that 0:02:46.360 --> 0:02:50.080 in my book and how I was sort of in 0:02:50.160 --> 0:02:54.519 death denial. But we'll talk about that another time we 0:02:54.880 --> 0:02:58.840 are I was. I was too. I was completely in 0:02:58.880 --> 0:03:02.440 death denial, even though you know you see it coming, 0:03:02.560 --> 0:03:04.280 you know what's going to happen, but you just don't 0:03:04.280 --> 0:03:08.359 want to acknowledge it. And I think there's something weird 0:03:08.400 --> 0:03:14.520 about protecting the person, and then you wonder is it 0:03:14.560 --> 0:03:18.680 is it protecting them or is it misleading them? And 0:03:19.680 --> 0:03:24.000 you know, I have all sorts of regrets about that, UM, 0:03:24.040 --> 0:03:28.359 but I think it's pretty common actually, that it's it's 0:03:28.400 --> 0:03:31.880 too hard to face face reality. And I think as 0:03:31.919 --> 0:03:37.600 a society or even the medical profession needs to needs 0:03:37.640 --> 0:03:40.440 to help people. Because I always thought if we talked 0:03:40.480 --> 0:03:44.160 about Jay's death, that meant we were giving up hope, 0:03:44.920 --> 0:03:48.080 and I just didn't. I felt like to rob him 0:03:48.120 --> 0:03:53.400 of hope would rob him of any any small pleasures 0:03:53.440 --> 0:03:56.400 he was getting out of his life. I don't know 0:03:56.440 --> 0:03:59.040 if you felt that way too. I did, of course 0:03:59.040 --> 0:04:03.640 I felt that I feel exactly the same way. And 0:04:03.680 --> 0:04:08.400 in the end, you know, the person who's sick is 0:04:08.440 --> 0:04:13.640 the person who is most truthful. And it was very hard. 0:04:13.840 --> 0:04:16.919 She she knew. I mean, she knew. And there was 0:04:17.000 --> 0:04:22.320 this one moment that was very specific when we came 0:04:22.320 --> 0:04:26.640 out of this one doctor's office and you know, they 0:04:26.839 --> 0:04:30.839 had shown that there were lesions on her brain, and 0:04:32.600 --> 0:04:35.320 we both just knew that sort of that was it 0:04:35.640 --> 0:04:40.120 was making that its natural progression, the disease, and at 0:04:40.160 --> 0:04:43.279 the last place it goes as the brain. And so 0:04:43.440 --> 0:04:47.720 we had been incapable of stopping that. And when we 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:50.120 sat in the car and you know, she started crying 0:04:50.120 --> 0:04:54.040 and she said, I want to die, and I said, 0:04:54.320 --> 0:05:02.880 I know, I know you're not going to die. And 0:05:02.920 --> 0:05:07.520 then you just keep moving forward from there. But I 0:05:07.640 --> 0:05:11.119 knew that most likely, yes, she would die, and she knew, 0:05:11.800 --> 0:05:15.960 and yet you couldn't discuss it. No, we discussed it 0:05:16.279 --> 0:05:19.120 to a certain extent, and then you know, then we 0:05:20.880 --> 0:05:24.160 moved on and we did keep we would talk about it, 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:27.239 but you can only talk about it for so long. 0:05:27.320 --> 0:05:30.599 And then and I remember going and talking about her 0:05:31.640 --> 0:05:34.720 will and life insurance and all that stuff with the lawyer, 0:05:34.800 --> 0:05:39.359 and it was just terrible. And she was very matter 0:05:39.400 --> 0:05:42.240 of fact about it, because you had because she had 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:47.359 to be anyway. Anyway, I was sort of I was 0:05:47.400 --> 0:05:51.320 sort of a practitioner and of toxic positivity. You know, 0:05:51.520 --> 0:05:56.520 like Jay had brain mets too, uh, And I remember 0:05:56.640 --> 0:06:01.000 we went to the doctor. Yeah, he had Uh. It 0:06:01.200 --> 0:06:06.160 traveled from north it was marching northward from his liver 0:06:06.440 --> 0:06:09.160 to his long He had a tumor on the back 0:06:09.200 --> 0:06:11.599 of his eye, and then he had brain mets in 0:06:11.760 --> 0:06:15.840 pretty short order. And every time, you know, the cancer 0:06:15.920 --> 0:06:20.320 would further metastasize, I would say, don't worry, we'll figure 0:06:20.360 --> 0:06:24.359 it out, or okay, we'll get radiation. And it was 0:06:24.480 --> 0:06:27.880 just the only way I knew how to keep going. 0:06:28.480 --> 0:06:32.680 Of course, and here's the thing is that we can 0:06:32.720 --> 0:06:34.800 say that, oh, we're giving the person false hope, or 0:06:34.800 --> 0:06:39.320 we're giving ourselves false hope. But how else, how else 0:06:39.400 --> 0:06:43.360 do you go on? If you just give up, If 0:06:43.440 --> 0:06:47.800 you just give up, what happens, what happens to the kids, 0:06:48.120 --> 0:06:51.760 what happens to the person who's sick? You can't. You 0:06:51.920 --> 0:06:59.080 have to keep trying. Unfortunately, we don't have the science, 0:07:00.080 --> 0:07:06.560 We don't have the tools to save anybody who's suffering 0:07:06.640 --> 0:07:10.880 like that, so we we but we implement them anyway, 0:07:11.600 --> 0:07:17.120 and that in some ways makes it even worse, because 0:07:18.160 --> 0:07:23.080 there is no point to doing whole brain radiation. What 0:07:23.160 --> 0:07:27.520 would be the point of that it doesn't work right? 0:07:28.760 --> 0:07:32.000 What would be the point of you have eleven lesions 0:07:32.040 --> 0:07:35.480 on your brain, We're going to target each one of them, 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:39.680 but we know it's basically going to come back. So 0:07:39.720 --> 0:07:42.760 we have to get to a point where the medical 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:48.000 community and the victims and their families make it, make 0:07:48.080 --> 0:07:51.800 decisions together and not just go, oh no, we're gonna 0:07:52.040 --> 0:07:55.680 just do this whole brain radiation with you and completely 0:07:55.840 --> 0:08:01.720 kill your is it your make delay for word so 0:08:01.800 --> 0:08:04.920 that what happens is then from what I was told, 0:08:05.920 --> 0:08:09.080 there's no connection between your body and your brain. So 0:08:09.160 --> 0:08:12.800 the whole thing falls apart. And that's because of the radiation. 0:08:13.680 --> 0:08:16.560 So why do you do it? Why are we doing it? 0:08:17.080 --> 0:08:20.120 And and not to mention in certain countries like America, 0:08:20.200 --> 0:08:24.160 the expense of it and that is really disturbing. We 0:08:24.280 --> 0:08:27.280 have to figure out a way, first of all, to 0:08:27.400 --> 0:08:30.760 cure it. Second of all that people need to be 0:08:30.800 --> 0:08:32.800 able to make a decision and go I'm not going 0:08:32.840 --> 0:08:36.800 to do that because it can make it even worse. 0:08:38.200 --> 0:08:41.680 And some people do, but I think more often than 0:08:41.720 --> 0:08:46.800 not people die trying. Right there, you go, well, I'm 0:08:46.840 --> 0:08:51.440 so sorry, Katie, I'm so sorry. I know it's been 0:08:51.480 --> 0:08:56.360 a long time for you, m h and for me too, 0:08:56.360 --> 0:09:01.320 but you never you never get over it. When we 0:09:01.400 --> 0:09:05.280 come back, we dive into Stanley's memoir, his passion for food, 0:09:05.600 --> 0:09:17.320 and his own cancer diagnosis that's right after this. In 0:09:17.360 --> 0:09:21.200 addition to all of his acting accolades, Stanley Tucci is 0:09:21.200 --> 0:09:24.600 the author of two cookbooks, The Tucci Cookbook and The 0:09:24.640 --> 0:09:28.680 Tucci Table, which he co wrote with his wife, Felicity Blunt. 0:09:29.320 --> 0:09:33.960 The two married in and have two children together. Stanley 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:36.800 knows his way around food writing, so when the book 0:09:36.840 --> 0:09:40.840 publisher Simon and Schuster approached him to write another book, 0:09:41.360 --> 0:09:45.400 he figured he had it covered. I always thought that 0:09:45.480 --> 0:09:51.640 it would sort of take the form of observations, musings, 0:09:52.080 --> 0:09:57.880 some experiences, some recipes, um. And then when I when 0:09:57.920 --> 0:10:00.480 I spoke to them, when I spoke bok to them, 0:10:00.640 --> 0:10:04.600 they said, they said, you know, don't we would really 0:10:04.600 --> 0:10:06.840 like to have like a memoir. And I was like, 0:10:06.880 --> 0:10:09.640 what you talk I can't do that. I don't want 0:10:09.640 --> 0:10:11.760 to do that. And they said, well, would you give 0:10:11.800 --> 0:10:17.000 it a try and see, because just try it. So 0:10:17.040 --> 0:10:19.720 I tried it and and that, and I ended up 0:10:19.760 --> 0:10:22.200 with this, but so It was never my intention really 0:10:22.240 --> 0:10:25.360 to write a memoir. What was it like the process 0:10:25.440 --> 0:10:31.239 for you? Well, it was It was strange because I 0:10:31.240 --> 0:10:34.400 I felt like I kept saying the felicity. I kept saying, 0:10:34.400 --> 0:10:36.480 I don't I don't know that I really have enough 0:10:36.520 --> 0:10:39.440 to say, and I think I'm I only have this 0:10:39.520 --> 0:10:43.600 many pages. You know, I don't have had nothing left. 0:10:43.640 --> 0:10:46.000 I don't know. If she goes, stand stop it, think 0:10:46.040 --> 0:10:48.360 about when remember the story you told me about the 0:10:48.400 --> 0:10:50.880 blah blah blah. But you remember when you told me 0:10:50.880 --> 0:10:53.199 that when you were young and this happened and you 0:10:53.280 --> 0:10:55.200 were that thing that your mother made and the blah 0:10:55.280 --> 0:10:58.959 blah blah or what about the And I said, oh, oh, yeah, 0:10:59.080 --> 0:11:03.640 you think that would be interesting? She goes yes, So 0:11:03.840 --> 0:11:06.240 I just go back and write, you know, but it 0:11:06.320 --> 0:11:10.720 was great. I really needed her to to help me, because, well, 0:11:10.760 --> 0:11:14.880 you doubt yourself and you're afraid of boring people. Well, 0:11:14.960 --> 0:11:17.880 let's talk about the book, because I know you use 0:11:18.040 --> 0:11:24.520 food really too as the engine for the narrative instead 0:11:24.559 --> 0:11:28.680 of film, which obviously has played an equally important role 0:11:28.720 --> 0:11:32.760 in your life. And I wondered about that until I 0:11:32.800 --> 0:11:37.680 came to the last chapter and I read about you know, 0:11:37.840 --> 0:11:41.520 your cancer diagnosis. I don't want to dwell on it, 0:11:41.640 --> 0:11:44.439 because I imagine Stanley, you don't want to dwell on it. 0:11:44.520 --> 0:11:48.120 But it was pretty shocking when I read that. How 0:11:48.160 --> 0:11:51.200 did that inform sort of what you wrote, even though 0:11:51.240 --> 0:11:53.720 you would always plan to write about food. Did it 0:11:53.800 --> 0:11:57.360 take a different tenor or tone as a result of 0:11:57.400 --> 0:12:02.240 what you had experienced which sounds absolutely awful by the way, Yeah, 0:12:02.240 --> 0:12:06.520 it's pretty awful. I'm not gonna lie. Uh, and anybody 0:12:06.559 --> 0:12:09.000 who's been through it, and then a lot a lot 0:12:09.160 --> 0:12:13.880 of people have been through this kind of cancer. Um, yeah, 0:12:13.920 --> 0:12:19.000 it's it's very unpleasant. And you know I still suffer 0:12:19.120 --> 0:12:25.000 from the the effects of the radiation. Well, I still 0:12:25.080 --> 0:12:27.400 can't eat everything I want to eat. I certainly can't 0:12:27.400 --> 0:12:32.760 eat anything spicy. I have difficulty. I still don't have 0:12:32.920 --> 0:12:36.000 enough saliva. So you can't just sort of go, I'll 0:12:36.040 --> 0:12:39.720 eat that sandwich. You know, eating that sandwich takes quite 0:12:39.800 --> 0:12:43.880 a while, so you're constantly drinking water and you know, 0:12:44.760 --> 0:12:47.079 trying to have enough from some sort of condiment to 0:12:47.160 --> 0:12:50.600 help you through it. Um, and certain things you can eat, 0:12:50.920 --> 0:12:54.280 no problem, that's not a problem. So you know, as 0:12:54.320 --> 0:12:56.079 I said in the book, I lived mostly on a 0:12:56.160 --> 0:12:58.640 vegetarian diet for a long time because I couldn't eat 0:12:58.920 --> 0:13:02.800 meat on so it's mostly soft foods and all that. 0:13:03.120 --> 0:13:07.040 And it's still, it's still. I have to gravitate towards 0:13:07.360 --> 0:13:10.120 towards that. And you had it, which is which is fine. 0:13:10.440 --> 0:13:13.679 It was a tumor, a squamous cell tumor at the 0:13:13.720 --> 0:13:17.520 base of your tongue. Yeah, and your jaw started hurting 0:13:17.960 --> 0:13:23.160 like excruciating right painted your jaw. Yeah, for two years. 0:13:25.240 --> 0:13:28.319 Why didn't you get it checked before? Well? I did. 0:13:28.880 --> 0:13:31.160 The problem is it was missed, and I don't know 0:13:31.440 --> 0:13:34.959 how it was missed. I had a prominent U E 0:13:35.160 --> 0:13:41.240 n t here look at it. Uh, I had I 0:13:42.040 --> 0:13:46.079 had to scan. I had um a friend of mine 0:13:46.120 --> 0:13:50.480 who's a neurosurgeon and a colleague of his in New York. 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:54.120 I had done all over the world and it was missed. 0:13:55.120 --> 0:13:57.319 And then eventually I was like, oh, I don't know 0:13:57.360 --> 0:13:59.559 what this is. I was getting acupuncture, it was getting 0:13:59.600 --> 0:14:02.160 the sun as it was doing all these things, and 0:14:02.280 --> 0:14:04.800 suddenly that finally the tumor just got so big that 0:14:07.600 --> 0:14:10.000 I was sent to this fee sent me to this 0:14:10.280 --> 0:14:14.319 guy was a salivary gland doctor. But obviously deals with cancer, 0:14:15.720 --> 0:14:17.679 and he just opened up my mouth and within a 0:14:17.760 --> 0:14:19.680 second he went, oh my god, you're this huge tumor. 0:14:20.680 --> 0:14:23.440 Um So, I hadn't had a scan for quite a 0:14:23.520 --> 0:14:29.120 while and the original scan missed it. Um So anyway, Um, 0:14:29.640 --> 0:14:32.320 it was unfortunate, but it was fortunate in the sense 0:14:32.400 --> 0:14:35.200 that we got it in time and that it had 0:14:35.280 --> 0:14:41.120 not metastasized. It was fortunate, and I mean I was 0:14:42.000 --> 0:14:46.080 so relieved. You know, Um, there are so many different 0:14:46.160 --> 0:14:49.520 kinds of cancers, with so many different kind of prognoses. 0:14:50.240 --> 0:14:54.440 And the fact that the treatment you had at Mount Sinai, 0:14:54.840 --> 0:14:59.480 which was radiation very specific to the region and chemotherapy 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:06.480 I read, had a success rate. Thank god. Um, that's 0:15:06.520 --> 0:15:09.640 the good news. Getting there, however, was not half the fun, 0:15:09.840 --> 0:15:15.160 because it was extremely excruciating the treatment with the radiation 0:15:15.400 --> 0:15:18.720 and the chemo, and it was a two year treatment, Stanley, 0:15:18.800 --> 0:15:21.120 Is that right? No, no, no, no, The treatment was 0:15:21.200 --> 0:15:26.880 only thirty five days. The the result of the treatment, 0:15:26.960 --> 0:15:30.560 the effects of the treatment three years on now, so 0:15:30.680 --> 0:15:33.880 it's three over three years since I finished treatment and 0:15:34.000 --> 0:15:38.840 I'm still not back to normal. What what were some 0:15:39.000 --> 0:15:41.960 of the what were some of the side effects you 0:15:42.160 --> 0:15:44.120 lose your taste and smell. But you don't lose it. 0:15:44.280 --> 0:15:47.720 What happens is everything that you smell on, everything that 0:15:47.840 --> 0:15:52.800 you taste tastes like you know what, and to the 0:15:52.880 --> 0:15:58.680 point where you can't. Um. You can't. If someone has 0:15:58.720 --> 0:16:01.320 eaten and they've walked in to the room, you have 0:16:01.480 --> 0:16:04.440 to just say, get out of the room. I can't 0:16:04.440 --> 0:16:07.720 stand it. Oh no, you can't. If you open the refrigerator. 0:16:08.880 --> 0:16:11.040 Normally you open a refrigerator, what do you smell? You know, 0:16:11.280 --> 0:16:13.440 unless something is open, it's been there for what do 0:16:13.520 --> 0:16:17.480 you smell? Nothing? It's a refrigerator keeps things cooled. The 0:16:17.560 --> 0:16:22.160 odors get sort of numbed, right. I opened a refrigerator 0:16:22.440 --> 0:16:25.640 at that point, and when I'm getting through treatment and 0:16:25.720 --> 0:16:29.320 finishing treatment, and it was, as I wrote in the book, 0:16:29.360 --> 0:16:34.080 a wall of stink. It was incredible. I couldn't be 0:16:34.320 --> 0:16:39.480 near anything that, no matter what it was. UM. I 0:16:39.640 --> 0:16:42.280 was so nauseous that I could just all I could 0:16:42.280 --> 0:16:44.760 do was lay in bed. I was so nauseous from 0:16:44.760 --> 0:16:50.280 the radiation. You're in terrible pain because it's destroying all 0:16:50.440 --> 0:16:54.640 the seft tissue in your mouth, and you have you're 0:16:54.760 --> 0:17:00.680 riddled with ulcers. UM plus you're just in pain, so 0:17:00.840 --> 0:17:05.760 you're taking morphine, you're on fentanyl patches. You can't swallow 0:17:05.840 --> 0:17:08.880 even water, so you have to then hydrate yourself, either 0:17:08.960 --> 0:17:12.479 through intravenous or I finally had a feeding tube put 0:17:12.560 --> 0:17:17.000 in after five weeks, and I stayed with that feeding 0:17:17.040 --> 0:17:21.359 tube for six months. You lost thirty pounds and you 0:17:21.520 --> 0:17:24.600 needed to get nourishments. So you had that kind of 0:17:24.720 --> 0:17:27.520 feeding tube that you put I think that it's called 0:17:27.680 --> 0:17:31.119 something like a peg, like a peg or something, and 0:17:31.160 --> 0:17:34.200 I can't remember something like that. So you had to 0:17:34.640 --> 0:17:37.879 get get nourishment through a feeding tube. And you know, 0:17:38.000 --> 0:17:41.560 as I hear you describe this, Stanley, it's like such 0:17:41.600 --> 0:17:45.920 a cruel irony for someone who gets so much pleasure 0:17:46.680 --> 0:17:51.520 from food, whose very existence seems to be colored in 0:17:51.600 --> 0:17:56.400 the most beautiful way by food and drink. And um, 0:17:56.760 --> 0:18:00.080 did that strike you at the time, like w T 0:18:00.320 --> 0:18:05.680 F Yeah, yeah, hello, I mean really, any other part 0:18:05.760 --> 0:18:09.480 of me please take it, you know, but not that, 0:18:12.200 --> 0:18:15.560 Please not that. And I thought I was so afraid. 0:18:15.640 --> 0:18:17.040 I thought, well, I'm never going to be able to 0:18:17.119 --> 0:18:19.600 eat again. I'm never gonna be able to share a 0:18:19.720 --> 0:18:22.359 great meal, to cook a great meal with my family, 0:18:23.160 --> 0:18:28.760 and or friends. That is really my my life, my life. 0:18:29.840 --> 0:18:34.160 Um So, Also, it was quite ironic that CNN came 0:18:34.240 --> 0:18:36.679 to me and I was just like six months out 0:18:36.720 --> 0:18:39.000 of treatment and CNN came to me and said, do 0:18:39.000 --> 0:18:41.680 you have any ideas for a show, And I said, well, 0:18:42.560 --> 0:18:45.440 I have this idea. And I had three different ideas 0:18:46.960 --> 0:18:51.840 and they were all involved. One was about cancer, the 0:18:51.960 --> 0:18:57.800 other was about uh refugees and food, and then I 0:18:57.880 --> 0:18:59.800 gave them this idea was an idea I've had for 0:19:00.080 --> 0:19:04.840 a long time. I'm Stanley Tucci, I'm Italian on both sides, 0:19:04.880 --> 0:19:07.600 and I'm traveling across Italy to discover how the food 0:19:08.040 --> 0:19:11.560 in each of this country's twenty regions is as unique 0:19:11.720 --> 0:19:14.920 as the people in their past. You know, we made 0:19:14.960 --> 0:19:16.960 the deal, we found a production because we started making 0:19:16.960 --> 0:19:18.960 it and there I am shooting in Italy and I'm 0:19:19.080 --> 0:19:22.119 still not able to eat a lot of stuff. I 0:19:22.160 --> 0:19:24.919 can taste everything at that point, but there's a lot 0:19:24.960 --> 0:19:27.600 of stuff that I still can't swallow. So I started 0:19:27.640 --> 0:19:29.920 to show like a little over a year after treatment, 0:19:31.000 --> 0:19:33.840 and I honestly don't even know how I did it. 0:19:35.560 --> 0:19:39.000 Were you faking it? Where you were in some instances 0:19:39.040 --> 0:19:42.159 where you like, oh that's really good. No, no, no, 0:19:42.640 --> 0:19:46.119 I could taste it, so I didn't. There was never 0:19:46.240 --> 0:19:50.399 a lie there. But there's no question that they had to. 0:19:50.640 --> 0:19:52.399 They would. I would ask them to cut away, or 0:19:52.400 --> 0:19:54.560 I would turn myself away and I have to take 0:19:54.640 --> 0:19:56.119 something out of my mouth because I was going to 0:19:56.240 --> 0:20:02.440 choke on it. That's insane, Stanley terrible. Was it? Was 0:20:02.520 --> 0:20:08.639 it therapeutic though, doing that documentary series, because I don't know, 0:20:08.760 --> 0:20:12.040 you've got to get away from what you've been through 0:20:12.280 --> 0:20:17.600 and and do something you loved even though you were compromised. Yes, 0:20:18.880 --> 0:20:22.960 it was very I think it was therapeutic, and it was. 0:20:24.040 --> 0:20:27.480 It was incredibly incredibly positive. It was a difficult experience, 0:20:27.560 --> 0:20:30.880 not only because I was compromised, which is simply said logistically, 0:20:30.960 --> 0:20:35.360 it's a very difficult thing to do. We've we've refined 0:20:35.440 --> 0:20:37.240 it now so we're better at it. I'm about to 0:20:37.280 --> 0:20:40.760 go start again to do three more episodes, and we 0:20:41.200 --> 0:20:44.399 have a a really wonderful group of people put together, 0:20:44.560 --> 0:20:47.520 and you know, so we're it's gonna be a little 0:20:47.520 --> 0:20:52.200 more efficient, I think, um, But yes, it was. It 0:20:52.359 --> 0:20:55.520 was something that I've never done before, obviously, and and 0:20:55.640 --> 0:20:57.360 it was a story that I always wanted to tell 0:20:58.840 --> 0:21:01.880 and so I felt good about that, and I felt 0:21:01.920 --> 0:21:06.360 good that I was up out and about what else 0:21:06.440 --> 0:21:10.119 kind of got you through that period of because it 0:21:10.280 --> 0:21:15.159 does sound like hell. I imagine Felicity was unbelievable in 0:21:15.600 --> 0:21:19.040 in that instance too. Yeah, she got me through it. 0:21:20.000 --> 0:21:21.720 I mean she got me through it. She found the 0:21:21.800 --> 0:21:25.520 doctor I was. You know, I was really adamant that 0:21:25.560 --> 0:21:29.240 I was not going to do standard of care because 0:21:29.440 --> 0:21:33.640 I saw what happened to Kate, and I had met 0:21:33.760 --> 0:21:36.600 a lot of doctors that I didn't trust. I met 0:21:36.640 --> 0:21:43.920 a lot I did trust, but I didn't trust the system. However, 0:21:44.119 --> 0:21:46.760 when as you said before, when we look at the statistics, 0:21:47.240 --> 0:21:49.560 you look at that prognosis, you look at those numbers, 0:21:49.600 --> 0:21:52.040 you go like, you have to be kind of an 0:21:52.080 --> 0:21:54.840 idiot if you don't do that. And I just wanted 0:21:54.880 --> 0:22:00.760 to get better. Um, I'm still a believer in a 0:22:00.840 --> 0:22:06.720 certain alternative treatments and supplements and things like that. But 0:22:08.040 --> 0:22:10.680 I think if you you just have every cancer is different, 0:22:10.800 --> 0:22:12.600 as you know, and do you just have to look 0:22:12.680 --> 0:22:17.159 at what what do you have? What are the what 0:22:17.320 --> 0:22:20.480 what's the standard of care? What are the statistics? And 0:22:20.720 --> 0:22:22.359 are you going to do that or are you going 0:22:22.400 --> 0:22:24.359 to augment it with something else? Are you're just gonna 0:22:24.359 --> 0:22:28.280 do something else? And I think that people forget that 0:22:28.760 --> 0:22:32.040 it's their body. They should be able to do what 0:22:32.160 --> 0:22:34.959 they want, but they get afraid and they suddenly are 0:22:35.040 --> 0:22:38.720 just doing something that might kill them before the cancer kills. 0:22:39.240 --> 0:22:45.600 It's a very imperfect situation when it comes to cancer therapies. 0:22:45.680 --> 0:22:49.159 You know, so often they're diagnosed sole late. You know, 0:22:49.240 --> 0:22:52.800 you're lucky and that there was a treatment option that 0:22:53.000 --> 0:22:58.520 was quite successful and and that it hadn't metastasized, because 0:22:58.560 --> 0:23:02.240 I think the horrible thing about cancer is it's so 0:23:02.359 --> 0:23:06.480 often diagnosed when it's when you're symptomatic, and you're usually 0:23:06.600 --> 0:23:12.680 symptomatic when it's you know, a very serious situation. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:23:12.840 --> 0:23:16.760 and that you know, that's a really it's such a tragedy. 0:23:17.440 --> 0:23:20.800 I think people are becoming much more aware of it now. 0:23:21.400 --> 0:23:25.760 People are getting tested, you know, for you know, your 0:23:25.840 --> 0:23:28.880 prostate is getting checked, your vowels are getting checked, your 0:23:30.000 --> 0:23:34.520 everything is getting checked much much more frequently now, and 0:23:34.640 --> 0:23:37.639 cancer screenings are happening much more frequently now. The thing 0:23:37.760 --> 0:23:41.159 is they simply have to be made available and accessible 0:23:41.200 --> 0:23:44.320 and affordable to agree, and they're not in this country. 0:23:44.840 --> 0:23:48.720 It's much better in America. In America, we know that 0:23:48.840 --> 0:23:53.040 doesn't if you don't have insurance, that's it. Well, I'm 0:23:53.119 --> 0:23:55.800 really working hard with Stand Up to Cancer and some 0:23:55.920 --> 0:23:59.760 of my other efforts because, um, not only do this 0:24:00.440 --> 0:24:04.000 methods have to be available, they have to be uh 0:24:04.400 --> 0:24:08.840 you know, not couse prohibitive to your point. And um, 0:24:09.240 --> 0:24:12.240 you know, there still aren't enough screening tests for things 0:24:12.400 --> 0:24:17.840 like pancreatic cancer, ovarian cancer. There are many cancers that 0:24:17.920 --> 0:24:21.919 are such silent killers, um, that we need to really 0:24:22.080 --> 0:24:26.760 figure out how we identify them at an early stage 0:24:27.040 --> 0:24:30.240 and then treat them as soon as possible. And you know, 0:24:30.359 --> 0:24:33.639 during the pandemic Stanley, a lot of people had to 0:24:33.760 --> 0:24:37.640 forego or out of choice, didn't want to get screened, 0:24:37.720 --> 0:24:41.560 and that is going to translate, sadly into many more 0:24:41.720 --> 0:24:47.040 cancer mortality. So, um, you know, I'm always preaching, you know. 0:24:47.160 --> 0:24:49.680 And and a friend of mine was saying, when it 0:24:49.720 --> 0:24:52.159 comes to fixing the healthcare system, just make sure that 0:24:52.320 --> 0:24:54.720 people are able to see a doctor once a year. 0:24:54.920 --> 0:25:00.119 Imagine how many things could be eliminated if that is 0:25:00.240 --> 0:25:04.880 just part of everyone's you know, standard of care. Yes, 0:25:05.080 --> 0:25:08.840 I agree. The problem is that we don't. We don't. 0:25:09.240 --> 0:25:14.119 We don't have that. The more you know UM, the 0:25:14.200 --> 0:25:16.920 better informed you are, the more proactive you can be, 0:25:17.160 --> 0:25:23.080 and ultimately the healthier you'll be. It would save gazillions 0:25:23.320 --> 0:25:27.400 of dollars were people simply to have a physical every 0:25:27.480 --> 0:25:31.399 year that was completely free for them. And then you 0:25:31.520 --> 0:25:34.920 go from there and the proper tests, right, the proper screening, 0:25:35.119 --> 0:25:38.280 the proper tests, the proper screening. I think that also 0:25:38.400 --> 0:25:40.879 there's very some interesting stuff has been coming out of 0:25:41.160 --> 0:25:46.359 all this COVID UH horror UH and the way that 0:25:46.480 --> 0:25:50.080 they were able to fast track the vaccines and everything UM. 0:25:50.320 --> 0:25:53.840 And I think with with AI, they're they're going to 0:25:53.920 --> 0:25:58.040 be able to screen for things and find things now 0:25:58.400 --> 0:26:01.960 much more quickly, much more effici much more affordably than 0:26:02.000 --> 0:26:06.280 ever before UM, and create new tests to find things 0:26:06.320 --> 0:26:07.840 where you won't have to get a scan. They'll be 0:26:07.880 --> 0:26:10.000 able to find it your blood, They'll be able to 0:26:10.080 --> 0:26:13.639 find it in whatever. I'm gonna move on from the cancer. 0:26:13.800 --> 0:26:15.800 But the one thing I also I want to keep 0:26:15.840 --> 0:26:21.879 talking about it. The one thing I wondered and worried 0:26:21.920 --> 0:26:27.240 about is your children having lost their mom a decade earlier. 0:26:28.560 --> 0:26:31.119 You know, in the course, I live in fear of this, Stanley, 0:26:32.320 --> 0:26:35.200 because I have to daughters and they were six and 0:26:35.280 --> 0:26:39.960