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Colin Egglesfield ‘Just Broke Down’ While Hiding Cancer During 1st Acting Job
“Autumn Dreams” Hallmark star Colin Egglesfield has survived cancer three times. During a recent podcast, he talked about being on “All My Children” and hiding his cancer diagnosis.
Colin Egglesfield Was Diagnosed Months Into Joining ‘All My Children’
During the March 27 episode “A Melrose Minute,” Egglesfield talked about the early days of his acting career. He explained he originally planned to go to medical school, not get into acting.
During college, while he was attending the University of Iowa, Egglesfield learned about Model Search America. Although he had never considered becoming a model, and he was introverted and shy growing up, he landed gigs. His agent suggested he take an acting class, and he fell in love with it.
From there, he shared, “I ended up booking this role on ‘All My Children.’ And six months into my three-year contract, I was diagnosed with testicular cancer.”
He recalled, “So it was like the most exciting time of my life, but also the most scary because you never think you’re going to hear those words.”
After his cancer diagnosis at the age of 32, Egglesfield had both surgery and radiation. He revealed, “I hid this from everyone in my cast because at the time it’s guy stuff, it’s testicular. I mean, I don’t want the public to know about this stuff.”
The actor remembered the experience of, “I have to jump in bed, my shirt off in these scenes, and go to my radiation treatments.”
“After a few weeks of showing up on set, having the radiation treatment, I was just feeling weak and sweaty and just not great,” Egglesfield recalled.
He worried the director and producers would think he’d been out partying. At one point, the director approached him about not looking well.
At that point, Egglesfield shared, “I just, honestly, from trying to hold it all in, I just broke down.” The actor shared, ” I just told him I was going through this cancer experience and had radiation treatment.”
The Actor Received Loads of Support From His AMC Team
Egglesfield was flooded with support after opening up to the cast and crew on “All My Children.” He shared, “Man, I’ve never seen so many people show up to say, ‘Hey, do you want me to go with you to your doctor’s appointments or to your radiation treatments or whatever?’”
He continued, “And I was like, actually, that would be great. And so by sharing this and opening up, you don’t have to be needy in the experience, but you can confidently and from an empowered space tell people what you need.”
“What I learned was by keeping this all to yourself, not only do you stay isolated and alone in this experience, you deny other people the opportunity to show up for you, to be giving and supportive and to create more of these authentic friendships and bonds.”
He thinks that experience is why he is so open about it now. “I know how lonely it can be and how scary it can be to go through this experience on your own.”
