The sudden death of Jurassic Park star Sam Neill has sent shockwaves through the entertainment industry, leaving fans and colleagues mourning the actor. As tributes continue to pour in, his former partner Laura Tingle has spoken about his final days, revealing that he had been “pretty sick” for a couple of weeks before his death.
Sam Neill’s ex on his condition weeks before his death
Australian journalist Laura Tingle appeared on the ABC’s Sydney Mornings radio program on July 14, where she gave further insight into the actor’s final days and his years-long fight with cancer. She dated Sam Neill from 2018 to 2021.
She said, “He’d been fighting various forms of cancer for at least the last five years intensively. And that takes a toll on anybody’s body…He’d had a lot of chemo and a lot of immunotherapy and, thankfully, it had finally cleared him of the blood cancer that he’d had, but it left him pretty compromised in terms of his immune system and I think his poor body sort of got a bit exhausted, as makes sense. So, 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.”
During the conversation, the host recalled Sam Neill’s interview with Australian Story in 2023, where he confessed that he was not afraid of dying but would be “annoyed” as there were still things he wanted to do. At this point, Tingle stated that he felt that way in the days before his death.
“I think that was definitely where he was. He loved to work. He was largely defined by being on a movie set. He used to say, ‘I’m addicted to working.’ And I think he was,” Tingle explained.
Sam Neill dies at 78
Sam Neill, who played the iconic role of Dr. Alan Grant in the Jurassic Park film franchise, passed away on Monday. He was 78 years old. His family confirmed the news by posting a statement on Monday on his Instagram page. His family didn’t reveal the cause of death in the statement. He had been battling a form of blood cancer since 2022, but revealed in April that he was cancer-free.
The statement 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. They 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.”
Sam first achieved recognition after appearing in the film Sleeping Dogs (1977). This was followed by leading roles in projects such as Attack Force Z (1982), Dead Calm (1989), The Piano (1993), In the Mouth of Madness (1994), and Event Horizon (1997). He became an internationally popular star after portraying Dr. Alan Grant in Jurassic Park (1993), a role he reprised in Jurassic Park III (2001) and Jurassic World Dominion (2022).