Dolph Lundgren’s Cancer Was Misdiagnosed. A Second Opinion Saved His Life.

Episode Overview

• Rich Roll interviews actor, martial artist, chemical engineer, and author Dolph Lundgren about how he transformed severe childhood physical and verbal abuse as a boy named "Hans" in a small town in Sweden into the stoic, armored persona of an iconic Hollywood action star.
• The conversation traces Dolph's improbable journey from working on the Space Shuttle at Clemson and earning a Fulbright scholarship to MIT, to dating Grace Jones, maintaining discipline in 1980s New York, and winning the role of Ivan Drago in Rocky IV over 5,000 applicants.
• Dolph candidly discusses the 17-year big-screen career gap he experienced after moving to Spain, the psychological toll of instant fame, and how public vulnerability in Sweden transformed him from a media pariah into a national hero.
• Finally, the episode explores his 2015 and 2020 battles with kidney cancer, his regret over a ~10-year history of steroid and HGH use, how a UCLA second opinion saved him from a terminal 3-year prognosis caused by a misdiagnosis, and his ultimate healing through therapy, meditation, and self-love.

Key Concepts

• Childhood Trauma and the "Freeze" Response: Dolph grew up in an upper-middle-class Swedish home with 3 siblings and a half-brother from his father's earlier marriage in the 1940s or early 1950s (which ended after his father beat his first wife). His father—an engineer and army officer—and his mother—a language teacher turned housewife—experienced a turning point on their 1955 honeymoon in Scotland (10 years after WWII), when restaurant staff ignored them for an hour thinking they were German; his father didn't speak to his mother for a week and was abusive from then on. Dolph's father first hit him around age 3, kicking him into a bookshelf and leaving his head bleeding. This ongoing physical abuse gave Dolph soldier-like PTSD and triggered the "freeze" trauma response—dissociating and going dead inside to avoid pain, much like gazelles caught by lions or soldiers in gunfights.
• Generational Cycles of Abuse and Mental Illness: Understanding the roots of trauma helps dissolve resentment. Dolph's paternal grandfather was a tough army officer, hunter, and heavy drinker from a poor family with 12 siblings whose mother died when he was 12, forcing him to work to support the family in the 1920s. Dolph's father later suffered from bipolar disorder (putting tinfoil on windows), was forced into early retirement after blowing up at work, secretly divorced Dolph's mother (taking her inheritance from her father, who invented radio gramophones in the 1940s/1950s), and died a lonely man in a London mental hospital after Dolph had been in the film business for almost 20 years. By the time Dolph was physically stronger than his father, he had forgiven him and never thought to beat him up for what he did 20 years prior.
• Academic Escape vs. Physical Armoring: As a teenager, Dolph acted out by stealing and sniffing glue before an intervention sent him to his grandfather's house; Dolph hedges on his father's motives for sending him away, unsure if it was deep-level compassion to stop him from self-destructing or "self-preservation" because Dolph was growing too fast and would soon be able to beat him up. Seeking to escape Sweden and win his father's approval, Dolph got a scholarship to study chemistry at Washington State University at age 18, worked on the Space Shuttle at Clemson, and became a two-time European karate champion in 1980 and 1981. Drafted into the Swedish military during the Cold War, he served in a coastal artillery unit before trying out for a Navy SEAL-equivalent special forces unit where only about 20% of candidates made it—twisting his ankle in the snow, tightening his boots, and toughing it out for another day and a half (an injury he had surgery on only a few years ago). His father acknowledged his success only twice: when Dolph won the European championships (when his father was in his 50s) and when he got into MIT on a Fulbright scholarship.
• The Collision of Worlds and Disciplined Sobriety: When Dolph met pop icon Grace Jones in Sydney at age 24 or 25, he had only had 1 girlfriend in his life; at her hotel suite, her entourage shrank from 20 people to 10, 8, 4, and finally just the two of them. He met her in April, won the Australian Open in karate, met her in Tokyo later that year while she shot a Honda commercial, and moved to New York with her in the winter during a 6-month break before MIT (since Australian schools graduate in December). In the early 1980s, living in the West Village (Bank and West) below 14th Street, Dolph stayed completely sober at Studio 54 while others were up at 6:00 AM on drugs in the back room with Steve Rubell and Andy Warhol's inner circle; even if Dolph got home at 3:00 AM, he woke up at 5:00 AM to run fast through rough areas of Tribeca down Washington Street to the World Trade Center and back. After 9 months in NY studying acting with Warren Robertson in a class of 75 people, he rode a motorcycle to MIT in a leather-and-rubber Versace suit with Grace on the back, and dropped out of his PhD program.
• The Power of Stillness in Performance: Arriving in New York at the end of 1982/1983, Dolph auditioned for Rocky IV in 1984 (having listened to "Eye of the Tiger" from Rocky III while preparing to fight in Australia a year/year-and-a-half earlier). Initially rejected at the casting table as "too tall" when he stated his height as 6'5", he later gave an 8x10 photo to Sylvester Stallone's friend John Herzfeld through coach Warren Robertson. Six months later, while filming a James Bond movie in England, Stallone called him to Paramount, told him 5,000 guys were up for the role, and instructed him to put on weight, leading Dolph to train for 6 months (once he got Rocky IV a year after being wanted for a Russian character in Stallone's Rambo II, they paid him off about $5,000—5 grand—for the Rambo II role). Robertson, who studied with Marlon Brando and Marilyn Monroe at the Actors Studio, advised Dolph to play Ivan Drago with stillness and internal monologue rather than the loud aggression of Apollo Creed or Mr. T. Channeling his childhood freeze response into stillness won him the role against two Russian actors at the final audition and was used in the teaser trailer.
• The Shock of Fame and the Evolution of Action Cinema: At the November 1985 Rocky IV premiere in Westwood—set against a Cold War backdrop where the Soviet Union had 10,000 nuclear warheads—Dolph sat with his mouth open for 90 minutes and walked out at age 27 or 28 as an instant star, a shock that took him 10 years to recover from. Over his career, Dolph has been in about 80 movies, including 6 films with Stallone over 40 years. He notes that the era of real athlete-action stars ran from the late 1970s (Pumping Iron, Conan in '78, First Blood, Terminator and Rocky IV in '85) until 1988 or 1989 (or 1990/1991 per Rich Roll), when Tim Burton put Michael Keaton in a muscle suit for Batman.
• Vulnerability as an Antidote to Public and Private Pain: After his mother died suddenly in 1992 at age 60, Dolph got engaged to a Swedish woman (Anette), moved to New York, and then relocated to Marbella, Spain (7,000 kilometers / 5,000 miles from LA). Following Universal Soldier (1992) and Johnny Mnemonic with Keanu Reeves, he experienced a 17-year gap from the big screen until 2010 and took a 90% salary cut between 1993 and 2005. Divorcing in 2010, he moved back to LA and starred in The Expendables after Stallone called him. Around this time, hosting a Swedish summer radio show where he broke down crying about his father's abuse shifted public perception of him in Sweden from a media pariah to a beloved hero.
• The Cost of Chemical Armor and the Necessity of Medical Self-Advocacy: For an approximately 10-year period (and on and off since his 30s in the 1980s), Dolph took steroids and HGH, which can enhance tumor growth. Around 2010–2015, he began therapy and Vipassana meditation. In 2015, after finding blood in his urine during karate training in Sweden, he was diagnosed with kidney cancer and had a tumor surgically removed, expecting to be cancer-free after 5 years (in 2020); however, he resumed taking steroids after the 2015 scare because he was afraid of feeling weak. He also hedges on the safety of modern longevity and wellness peptides/medications, noting after speaking with his oncologist that people haven't taken them long enough for scientific evidence to show what they will look like 20 years from now. In 2020, while directing a movie in Alabama that shut down due to COVID, he felt ill in Sweden and a CAT scan revealed 6 new tumors around his kidney area just 2 days (Tuesday) before he proposed to his fiancée Emma (Thursday). After surgery in America and returning to finish the film, the cancer spread and grew too large for surgery. He endured 6 months of failing IV immunotherapy (suffering mouth/foot sores and lung blood clots requiring blood thinners) due to a misdiagnosis, and while shooting Aquaman 2 and Expendables 4 in London in 2020/2021, a doctor gave him about 3 years to live (Dolph suspected less), prompting him to revise his will. A second opinion from a UCLA doctor uncovered a rare genetic mutation in his biopsy with 5 available targeted medications; within 4 weeks of starting the new drug, his tumors were shrinking while he directed another movie. It took him about 2 years to get back in shape, and he now feels stronger every week—feeling better than he did 10 years ago, and probably the same as he felt 20 years ago.
• Disclosed Sponsors, Business Ties, and Upcoming Projects: Dolph has a book releasing September 22nd and a documentary releasing in October. Episode sponsors include: WHOOP (join.whoop.com/roll for 1 month free); Go Brewing (gobrewing.com/richroll50 for 50% off a first subscription order), started by Rich Roll's friend Joe Chura, in which Rich discloses he is an investor (the brand won gold and silver at the Best of Craft Beer Awards 2 years running, more World Beer Cup medals than any other brewery, was featured on the New York Times best NA beers list, and is in over 9,000 stores); Squarespace (squarespace.com/richroll, code RICHROLL for 10% off a first website or domain purchase); and Momentous (livemomentous.com/richroll, code RICHROLL for up to 35% off a first order), during which Rich notes he turned 60 this fall, is rebuilding his body after spinal fusion surgery, and highlights that Momentous Signature Spec Creatine is verified through 6 stages of testing across 4 independent agencies with 10 times fewer impurities, tighter heavy metal limits, and PFAS/microplastic screening.

Quotes

• At 0:00:01 - "He said, yeah, you probably have about three years left, but I can't believe that I was that close to dying." - Dolph reflecting on the terminal prognosis he received in London before getting a second opinion.
• At 0:00:44 - "Your job as a man is to be in the red, to give more than you were given, to love more than you were loved." - Dolph defining his philosophy on breaking generational trauma and manhood.
• At 0:04:05 - "It was an internal collision for me too, because I wanted to satisfy my dad, and that was his favorite school, MIT, and he was an engineer as well." - Dolph explaining why he pursued a Fulbright scholarship in chemical engineering despite his pull toward the arts.
• At 0:09:19 - "She said, 'Hans Lundgren, how tall are you?' And I was like, '6'5".' And she's like, 'Too tall, next.'" - Dolph recounting his immediate rejection at his first cattle-call audition for Rocky IV.
• At 0:11:20 - "He looked at me and he started thinking, wait a second, what if I make it like the ultimate lab creation, ultimate human being versus, who is a perfect specimen, versus Rocky, who is like the imperfect, you know, specimen." - Dolph describing how Sylvester Stallone conceived the character of Ivan Drago upon meeting him.
• At 0:14:34 - "Brando had this thing when he said, you know, 'Just because the director says action doesn't mean you have to do anything.'" - Dolph sharing the acting lesson from coach Warren Robertson that helped him win the role of Ivan Drago through stillness.
• At 0:18:24 - "I think he hit me the first time when I was probably around three or so. I was in front of the television, got in his way, and he kind of kicked me and I flew into some bookshelf and hit my head and I was bleeding." - Dolph detailing his earliest memory of physical abuse at the hands of his father.
• At 0:19:08 - "You're a little boy and you have a big guy my size come in and beat you up, it's like a near-death experience, they say." - Dolph explaining how childhood physical abuse creates soldier-like PTSD and a "freeze" response.
• At 0:22:51 - "The same trauma that I can use to, I can hijack this feeling to be a better fighter, to play an action character, to if I do an emotional scene in a movie, but that same trauma can also make me, you know, drink, do drugs." - Dolph explaining the dual-edged nature of channeling unresolved trauma into performance.
• At 0:28:05 - "I just wanted to get out of Sweden, it was too small for me. I didn't want to be this abused little boy, Hans, who, you know, felt bad about himself, and, you know, I didn't want to do that, and I wanted to get away from my dad." - Dolph on his motivation to leave Sweden for an American chemistry scholarship at age 18.
• At 0:42:40 - "I always looked at myself as a peaceful, kind of shy and sort of introvert person. But of course, then there's another side that comes out, kind of like a Mr. Hyde, you know. There's the other guy who comes out when he gets pushed to a certain point." - Dolph contrasting his gentle nature with the aggressive protector persona forged by abuse.
• At 0:55:59 - "He said something like, 'You know, maybe the reason you've tried all these different things are because maybe you're an artist, maybe you're not a chemical engineer, you know, maybe that's what you should do.'" - Dolph recalling the pivotal advice that gave him permission to leave MIT and pursue acting.
• At 1:09:49 - "I was taking, you know, steroids, I was taking HGH, stuff that can enhance tumor growth." - Dolph acknowledging his ~10-year history with performance-enhancing drugs and their potential link to his cancer.
• At 1:36:09 - "I found out later that those were the wrong drugs. I was misdiagnosed. They weren't going to help no matter how much of it I took." - Dolph discussing the 6 months of grueling IV immunotherapy he endured before seeking a second opinion.
• At 1:40:27 - "Because I started taking that other drug, and within four weeks, everything was shrinking." - Dolph describing the rapid success of the targeted genetic therapy discovered by his UCLA doctor.
• At 1:43:38 - "I am the treasure I've been seeking." - Dolph sharing the core realization of his spiritual and emotional healing journey.
• At 1:46:14 - "You have to love yourself first before you can love others. And that's what's hard in life. And it takes a long, it's easier said than done, you know. Because if you don't love yourself, then strength doesn't mean anything. Then strength can be used for negative purposes." - Dolph explaining why physical or worldly strength is dangerous without a foundation of self-love.
• At 1:49:46 - "The line between good and evil cuts through the heart of every man." - Dolph reflecting on human duality and the responsibility to choose healing over harm.
• At 1:50:30 - "The Vikings said that cattle die, kinsmen die, you yourself shall one day die, but I know one thing that never dies is the judgment over the dead man. How do people speak about you when you're gone?" - Dolph citing Viking wisdom on legacy and how one treats others in life.

Takeaways

• Interrupt generational trauma by living "in the red": Make it your conscious duty as a parent and partner to arrest inherited cycles of abuse by giving more love and support to the world than you were given as a child.
• Practice daily mirror work to build self-love: Counteract deep-seated feelings of unworthiness by looking yourself in the eye in the mirror every day and saying "I love you" until you genuinely mean it.
• Seek a second medical opinion and genetic biopsy testing: When facing a severe or terminal diagnosis that isn't responding to standard treatment, advocate for yourself by seeking a second opinion and requesting genetic mutation profiling of your biopsy.
• Examine the psychological roots of enhancement and longevity drugs: Before taking steroids, HGH, or unproven longevity peptides, question whether you are masking an emotional fear of "feeling weak" and weigh that against unknown long-term oncological risks.
• Choose vulnerability over stoic armoring: Allow yourself to openly share your past wounds and cry rather than hiding behind a stoic facade, recognizing that honest vulnerability fosters deep human connection and healing.
• Separate validation-seeking from your true calling: Audit your career and academic goals to ensure you are pursuing your own authentic talents rather than trying to win the approval of an unpleaseable parent.
• Use stillness to command a room: In high-stakes auditions, presentations, or confrontations, resist the urge to overreact or over-perform; instead, use grounded stillness and internal focus to project authentic presence.
• Maintain non-negotiable daily habits in chaotic environments: Anchor yourself with a strict morning routine—like an early morning run and sobriety—when navigating high-pressure, fast-paced social or professional scenes.
• Reframe the perpetrator's history to achieve forgiveness: Study the upbringing and mental health struggles of those who hurt you so you can view them as broken human beings, allowing you to forgive them and release your own anger.
• Retire survival mechanisms that no longer serve you: Recognize when the "freeze" response or "Mr. Hyde" anger that protected you in childhood has become destructive in adulthood, and use therapy and meditation (such as Vipassana) to dismantle it.
• Evaluate your life by your relational legacy: Measure your daily actions not by career accolades or physical strength, but by how your loved ones will speak about you when you are gone.