Horror icon Bruce Campbell reveals he only has 5 years to live ‘give or take’

Bruce Campbell has revealed he has been given a life expectancy of around five years following his cancer diagnosis.

The 68-year-old actor, best known for starring in the cult Evil Dead franchise, discussed his health battle during a recent appearance on The Adam Carolla Show.

Campbell declined to reveal what type of cancer he has but said his latest prognosis suggests he has around five years left to live, ‘give or take’.

‘I’ve decided though, pretty specifically, to live with it, not die from it,’ he told host Adam Carolla.

The horror icon said he had deliberately avoided getting lost in the huge amount of information available about cancer, describing it as a ‘massive rabbit hole’.

‘You can go into focus groups of 10,000 guys who have exactly what you have. I won’t touch it with a 10 foot pole,’ he said.

Instead, Campbell is focusing his energy on promoting his new film, Ernie & Emma, which he wrote, directed, produced and stars in.

‘I’m moving on. I got a movie to promote. And when I promote this movie, I have nothing. I’m free and clear when I promote this movie mentally,’ he said.

‘You have to make this decision of, “well, okay, but do I have to stop everything that I’m doing because of this?” Well, no.’

Campbell added that he feels ‘perfect’ at the moment and is determined not to let his diagnosis stop him from living his life.

‘The cancer, it creeps me out because of the ancillary stuff that it does. It’s not just, you don’t die for cancer. You die from what cancer does to you,’ he explained.

The actor first revealed his diagnosis publicly earlier this year, saying his cancer was ‘treatable, not curable’.

In a statement shared on social media, he wrote: ‘I apologize if that’s a shock – it was to me. I’m not gonna go into more detail.’

He added that his health would mean some changes to his professional life, with appearances, conventions and work having to ‘take back seat to treatment’.

At the time, Campbell said he hoped to be well enough by the summer to tour with Ernie & Emma.

‘It doesn’t change anything for me,’ he told the Salem Statesman Journal in March. ‘It makes you prioritize 100 percent, and for me, the priority is this movie.’