Some heavenly news for former 7th Heaven stud Barry Watson.
The 28-year-old heartthrob, who played recently departed Matt Camden on the WB's hit series, has kicked Hodgkin's disease, the show's executive producer says.
"He got cancer-free about a month ago," Brenda Hampton tells TV Guide Online. "He takes the last [chemotherapy] session Wednesday, and then hopefully, in about a month, he'll start looking great."
Watson made looking great easy as he shot to fame and Tiger Beat centerfold status playing the dreamy eldest son of the Camden clan. He announced last March that he would leave the show when his contract expired at the end of the 2001-02 season to pursue other projects. In the May season finale, his character tied the knot with sweetheart Sarah (Sarah Danielle Madison) and headed off to New York.
Shortly after the episode aired (pulling in a whopping 9 million viewers to the ratings-challenged network), Watson said he had been diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease, a highly curable form of cancer that attacks the lymph nodes.
Watson spent the summer undergoing chemo treatment. With his acting career on hold, the Michigan-born thesp joined the 7th Heaven writing team.
"He's been inspirational," Hampton gushes to TV Guide Online. "He's come in with great advice. He can certainly hold his own in the room with the writers."
Hampton also says there's a chance Watson might make like ex-costar Jessica Biel and occasionally return to his old Glen Oak stomping grounds to visit Stephen Collins, Catherine Hicks, Beverley Mitchell and the rest of the family.
"I would like to see him [back], but my second choice is to have him up here writing. We like having him and keeping him in the family."
Aside from future Heaven duties, Watson will also look to get his movie career back on track now that he's beaten cancer. His credits include starring roles in the goofball cross-dressing comedy Sorority Boys and the 1999 revenge thriller Teaching Mrs. Tingle and a cameo as himself in 2001's Ocean's Eleven remake.