Ben Stiller Survived Prostate Cancer

Actor Ben Stiller revealed that he is a survivor of prostate cancer, and he credits early detection with his current clean bill of health. The Zoolander star, 50, opened up to Howard Stern about his 2014 diagnosis and recovery on Oct. 4, 2016.

"I wanted to talk about it because of the test, because I feel like the test saved my life," he said, noting he had no family history of the disease. "It came out of the blue for me. I had no idea. At first, I didn't know what was gonna happen. I was scared," he admitted. "It just stopped everything in your life because you can't plan for a movie because you don't know what's gonna happen."

"It's the second most deadly cancer, but it's about one of the most curable," he added.

Thankfully, Stiller had a supporter in the form of his Meet the Parents and Meet the Fockers co-star Robert De Niro. "The first thing I did when I got diagnosed was get on the internet to try to learn," Stiller said. "I saw [Robert] De Niro had had it. I called him right away."

Stiller expounded on his battle in an essay for Medium. "As my new, world-altering doctor spoke about cell cores and Gleason scores, probabilities of survival, incontinence and impotence, why surgery would be good and what kind would make the most sense, his voice literally faded out like every movie or TV show about a guy being told he had cancer...a classic Walter White moment, except I was me, and no one was filming anything at all," he wrote.

The funnyman described the process of screening for PSAs, or the prostate-specific antigen test, as well as criticisms of the process. "The criticism of the test is that depending on how they interpret the data, doctors can send patients for further tests like the MRI and the more invasive biopsy, when not needed," he said. "Physicians can find low-risk cancers that are not life threatening, especially to older patients. In some cases, men with this type of cancer get 'over-treatment' like radiation or surgery, resulting in side effects such as impotence or incontinence. Obviously this is not good; however it's all in the purview of the doctor treating the patient. But without this PSA test itself, or any screening procedure at all, how are doctors going to detect asymptomatic cases like mine, before the cancer has spread and metastasized throughout one's body rendering it incurable? Or what about the men who are most at risk, those of African ancestry, and men who have a history of prostate cancer in their family?"

He went on, "Should we, as the USPSTF [U.S. Preventative Task Force] suggests, not screen them at all? This is a complicated issue, and an evolving one. But in this imperfect world, I believe the best way to determine a course of action for the most treatable, yet deadly cancer, is to detect it early."

Despite his struggles, Stiller told Stern that it was a terrifying, but ultimately rewarding and life-changing experience. "Afterwards, it just gives you an appreciation for life," he told Stern. "Every six months I'm taking my PSA test to make sure I'm clear."