Jeff Bridges, here in 2019, stars in a new TV series debuting in June.
CNN  — 

Jeff Bridges has a message now that he’s on the other side of Covid and his cancer is in remission: “Love is the deal.”

The actor talked to People about contracting Covid last year while he “had a 12-by-9-in. tumor in my body. Like a child in my body.”

“Covid made my cancer look like nothing,” he said of struggling for breath and being in extreme pain. “I couldn’t even roll over in bed without calling the nurse to help me with the oxygen.”

His wife Susan said she wasn’t sure he would survive, and Bridges worried the same.

jeff bridges people magazine cover

“I was pretty close to dying. The doctors kept telling me, ‘Jeff, you’ve got to fight. You’re not fighting,’” he said. “I was in surrender mode. I was ready to go. I was dancing with my mortality.”

The Oscar winner is now healthier, with a newborn grandson, a new puppy and a new TV show, “The Old Man.”

He also has a new lease on life.

“Who would say ‘I’d love some cancer, and give me a dose of Covid?’” Bridges said. “But my ability to receive all the love and give it was just heightened. Everything was turned up in the most beautiful way.”

“The Old Man” debuts on FX on June 18.