Mark Ruffalo Hid News Of His Brain Tumor From Pregnant Wife In Order To Shield Her From The Stress

Nov 30, 2019

Mark Ruffalo’s career has been a story of struggle before his great success as one of the top actors in Hollywood. He found fame later in life but beforehand, he had to deal with depression and time as a young burnout.

He knew in his heart that he wanted to be an actor and finally caught a break with a solid movie role, but unfortunately it was at the same moment that he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He kept the diagnosis a secret from his family until his wife gave birth to their first child.

Mark Ruffalo has been candid about his early years, telling New York Magazine that he wandered aimlessly, surfing, and smoking after graduating from high school, almost ready to jump off a bridge. He also told The Observer that he suffers from a low-grade chronic depression that afflicts him daily. He then turned his life around by putting energy into acting and worked until he started getting roles.

Ruffalo got his big break in the 2001 thriller “The Last Castle” alongside Robert Redford and James Gandolfini, when he received the distressing news about a medical diagnosis. Strangely, he only went to the doctor because he had a dream that he had a brain tumor, and he was right. He told The Guardian that it was such a clear and unusual dream that he knew he had to go.

His wife Sunrise Coigney was pregnant with their first child at the time and the soon-to-be father did not want to stress her out.

“He didn’t tell anyone for weeks,” his mother said to Men's Journal. “When he finally did, I was like, ‘Oh, my God. How could you bear all that?’”

It was only a week after their son Keen was born that Ruffalo decided to tell his wife and his family. Then, two weeks later he had surgery.

The process of healing was a hard one for the movie star, especially because it left one side of his face paralyzed. His hopes for a career in Hollywood seemed dashed and he shut out the world, going into a self-imposed exile. But eventually the muscles regained their movement and he was able to use his entire face, although he is still deaf in one ear today.

Since then, Ruffalo has had two more children with his wife and worked in a dizzying array of movies, at least 30 since his surgery according to IMDb. He even managed to nab the iconic role of the Incredible Hulk in Marvel’s “Avenger” movies, and best actor Oscar nominations for “Spotlight,” “Foxcatcher,” and “The Kids Are All Right.”

What would you do if you were in Mark Ruffalo’s position? Would you wait to break the stressful news or just be upfront about it all? Let us know.