Jim Beaver, known for roles on the shows The Boys and Supernatural, has privately undergone a fight for his life.
In a Feb. 3 Facebook post, the actor revealed that he had battled prostate cancer and, after undergoing treatments and surgery in Texas, is now cancer-free.
"I had kept this largely to myself the past few years, but as someone has made a rather public announcement of it in comments on my page in the past few days, I think that it is time to be fully public about it," the 72-year-old wrote. "In the fall of 2018, I was diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer."
Beaver, who plays Secretary of Defense Robert Singer on The Boys and portrayed Bobby Singer on Supernatural, said he underwent six months of hormone treatments at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas "to reduce my testosterone levels, so that my angry red prostate could cool down and not be so cancerously active when it came time to cut it out, thus lessening the chance of spread."
The actor wrote that in 2019, he underwent robotic laparoscopic surgery in Houston and spent one night in the hospital. "Little or no muscle was cut, so my recovery was rapid, and I was quickly on my feet, though a typical urinary incontinence dogged me for a few months," he wrote. "But for major surgery, it was remarkably free of pain (except for the rampant 'inflation') and I was fully active far quicker than I was when I had an appendectomy in 1954!"
Reflecting on his medical journey, Beaver wrote that his wife Sarah Spiegel was "extraordinarily helpful in helping me dress (there's a catheter and bag for a few days) and handle the luggage when we flew back from Houston, and she was a kind and attentive mate during this time who took care of what needs I had trouble with."
Beaver and Spiegel, a singer, married in 2019. In August 2022, he filed for divorce.
In his latest Facebook post, Beaver said that he just got new test results that showed his cancer was gone. "It's been 3 ½ years since the surgery and I am cancer free," he said. "There was no sign of spreading immediately after the surgery, and none since. I have been in full health since recovering from the operation, and my doctor recently told me that I am in astonishingly good health for a man in my age group. I am deeply blessed."
The actor explained that prior to his diagnosis, he had undergone annual prostate exams and a genetic test even showed he was low-risk for developing prostate cancer. "The reason I wanted to go public with this," he wrote, "is that I caught the evidence of a very aggressive cancer quite early."
He encouraged men to get themselves checked regularly. "Yeah, we all know the dumb jokes about the exam," he said. "You know what's dumber? Getting prostate cancer when you could have prevented it. Don't be an idjit. Get the digit. Be safe. Be smart."