'I just wanted to die': Stanley Tucci reveals how oral cancer affected his zeal for food on 'The View'
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Stanley Tucci opened up about his battle with oral cancer and what he missed the most at that time on 'The View' on ABC. The episode on Thursday, April 27, covered everything, from breaking Italian stereotypes to talking about food and the love for cooking. Tucci came on 'The View' to promote his latest TV show, 'Citadel' where he plays the badass spy Bernard Orlick.
Tucci, who went viral during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic for his food series 'Searching for Italy', told the hosts that the show was meant to "break the mold of a lot of shows that are out there" with its format. In the show, the actor travels across Italy trying new food and learning about country. The one thing, according to him, that inspired him to take on the journey was his battle with oral cancer on the tongue. During that time, he lost his sense of taste and smell and had to be fed using a tube for six months.
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'I just wanted to, well, die'
Speaking about Tucci's year-long battle with cancer, Sara Haines was the first to ask him a question on the subject. She asked, "How much did the battle with cancer affect your appetite for food and for life?"
Tucci replied, "I think it heightened it, that's what I wrote in my book too. Because I realized that the most important thing to me was food and to be able to enjoy it with my family and friends, and through food I connect with people and without that, I just wanted to, well, die. I thought what's the point."
Hearing that, Sunny Hostin remarked, "That's your love language, well, I love to cook too." Tucci then added, "If you have that taken away from you, it's really scary."
Stanley Tucci hated the 'horrible' Italian stereotypes
Tucci soon spoke about the topic of Italian stereotypes in movies and shared his thoughts on the same. "The stereotypes were horrible," Behar said, as Tucci chipped in with, "The interesting thing was … with other ethnic groups it was always like, 'Well this person is bad because of their upbringing.' … With Italians it was like, 'Italians are just innately evil.' There was never an explanation!"
For almost 10 years, Tucci refused to take on stereotypical Italian roles. He also shared that the boycott of such movies "was not easy, because I needed to work."
