Paul Hogan, 83, looks frail and jittery as he opens up on debilitating health issues in candid interview
QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA: Legendary actor Paul Hogan has spoken about his ailing health at age 83 in a remarkably candid interview after he was diagnosed with the inflammatory disorder retroperitoneal fibrosis.
The 'Crocodile Dundee' star appeared frail and shaky as he spoke to Sunrise hosts Natalie Barr and David Koch about his health struggles. He said he was gaining strength back after suffering muscle wastage and alarming weight loss. This came after Hogan recently revealed he was yearning to spend his final years in Australia after his deteriorating health left him too weak to carry out basic tasks on his own.
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"I had a kidney complaint and the treatment was worse than the disease and it sort of shriveled me," Hogan told Sunrise in an interview on Tuesday, November 22. "But my strength is back," he added. The actor claimed he had "zero body fat" and could "eat anything I like and I can't put it back on but I'm strong again."
"The Queen apologised to me"
— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) November 22, 2022
Beloved entertainer Paul Hogan told Kochie and Nat about rubbing shoulders with the royal family including Charles and Diana as well as Elizabeth ll ahead of his celebrity-filled Roast airing tonight at 7.30pm on @Channel7 and @7plus #Sunriseon7 pic.twitter.com/j9KjKbuGSZ
Earlier this month, Hogan told A Current Affair host Tracy Grimshaw how his debilitating condition had left him longing to leave Los Angeles and return to his home country. He revealed he had been diagnosed with retroperitoneal fibrosis, a rare disorder where inflammation and extensive scar tissue occurs in the abdominal cavity. The actor explain that the benign growth had wrapped around the abdominal aorta and pressed on his kidney. "[I've] been better. I had a problem on the aorta in the kidney and the treatment fixed it, but it shrunk me," he said. "I just... I've lost all my body fat and the muscles all shrank and the strength hasn't come back, because it left me feeble. I get Chance to open jars for me." Hogan joked, "Quite a few of my friends on diets hate me for it because I try and eat everything fatty and lardy you can think of. Everything they're not allowed to have. I can't put on an ounce."
ONLINE EXCLUSIVE: Aussie legend Paul Hogan has spoken candidly with Tracy Grimshaw about recent health struggles.
— A Current Affair (@ACurrentAffair9) November 7, 2022
See the full story TONIGHT on A Current Affair.#9ACA | Watch LIVE 7pm pic.twitter.com/nGI8Pitc5b
The actor said he was prescribed corticosteroids in order to shrink the abdominal growth, but admitted the steroid treatment was worse than the disease. "They shrink your muscles and [they're] supposed to make you fat, but I got thinner and thinner and thinner," Hogan revealed. "I'm now in the business of trying to put a bit of fat on… because you feel the cold too much when you've got no body fat." The embattled actor now has a pacemaker fitted and said he was "being held together by string" on his road to a full recovery.
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The Golden Globe winner also said that being healthy for such a long time was a blessing and that he constantly "maintained" his fitness up until the age of 79. He said, "I was still fit. I'd still take out most 40-year-olds. And then I turned 80 and it's lovely that saying that 'turning 80 is not for sissies' because things start to fall apart."
Hogan added that he can't leave his son Chance in California alone even though he is yearning to get back to Australia since his health is failing. He shares Chance with his 'Crocodile Dundee' co-star, Linda Kozlowski, his ex-wife. "I'm not in the place I'm meant to be, but I'm not allowed to complain about anything," he remarked. "I've had such a gifted life. I've had so many wonderful things happen to me without deserving them so I shouldn't complain but, yeah, ideally I'd rather be back in Sydney because I miss the rest of my family there."