The TRUTH About Sam Neill’s Final Days! The DEVASTATING Health Details That Emerged Before His Sudden Passing!

The New Zealand actor, who starred in dozens of films, passed away at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney aged 78 after recovering from cancer.

Neill announced he was being treated for stage-three angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma in 2023 and underwent chemotherapy and immunotherapy.

His friend and co-star, Rima Te Wiata, told Ryan Bridge TODAY that Neill had recently been suffering from the lung infection.

“It really sucks, actually,” she said on Tuesday.

“As [Neill] said once in the press … he’s not scared of death, but he would be annoyed … he would be like ‘Oh for goodness’ sake, I got over my cancer and now look … now I’ve got pneumonia. What next?’

“But he’s on his big journey now.”

ABC journalist and former partner Laura Tingle said Neill’s health had deteriorated in the weeks leading up to his death.

“His poor old body just sort of got a bit exhausted,” she told ABC Radio Sydney.

“He’s been pretty sick for the last couple of weeks, and everybody who loved him has been willing him on from near and far, but I think it was just a bit too much to recover from one more time.

“He’d had a lot of chemo and a lot of immunotherapy and, thankfully, it finally cleared him of the blood cancer that he had, but that left him pretty compromised in terms of his immune system.”

Neill died “suddenly and unexpectedly”, his family said in a statement shared on Monday.

“It is with immense sadness that the whanau (family) of Sam Neill share the news of his passing on Monday, July 13, in Sydney, Australia,” it read.

“Sam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterised his whole life.

“The loss was sudden and unexpected but blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer-free.

“The family would like to express their deepest gratitude to the staff at St Vincent’s Private Hospital for their incredible care.

“More details will be shared later, but for now, on behalf of the family, we ask that you respect their privacy as they navigate this immeasurable loss.”

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese led the tributes to the beloved star.

“Sam Neill starred in so many beloved Australian stories, and he earned a special place in Australian hearts,” Albanese wrote in a statement on X.

“Wry and dry, thoughtful and laconic, Sam fought illness with the same dignity, humour and conviction that gave strength to his every performance.

“He will be much mourned and long remembered. May he rest in peace.”