Blythe Danner has revealed that she battled the same oral cancer that killed her husband Bruce Paltrow—and that she initially kept it secret from daughter Gwyneth Paltrow and son Jake Paltrow. In an interview with People, the 79-year-old Meet the Parents actress said she is in remission four years after a diagnosis sparked by a lump in her neck. “I remember I looked up at heaven and said to Bruce, ‘Are you lonely up there?’” she told the magazine. “It’s a sneaky disease. But I’m fine and dandy now. And I’m lucky to be alive.” Danner said she underwent chemo, radiation, and three surgeries to rid herself of adenoid cystic carcinoma, which her husband died from in 2002.
