Sam Neill’s ex-partner, Laura Tingle, has broken her silence less than 24 hours after the Jurassic Park star suddenly passed away.
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While appearing on Sydney Mornings on Tuesday, Tingle claimed that the late actor had been “sick” at the time of his death.
“The bottom line is he’d been fighting various forms of cancer for at least the last five years intensively,” the journalist who dated Neill from 2018 to 2022 explained. “That takes a toll on anybody’s body. He’d had a lot of chemo and a lot of immunotherapy.”
She also noted, “Thankfully, it had finally cleared him of the blood cancer that he had. But that left him pretty compromised in terms of his immune system. I think his poor old body sort of got a bit exhausted.”
Tingle further disclosed that Neill had been “sick for the last couple of weeks.”
“Everybody who loved him has been willing him on from near and far,” she shared. “But I think it was just a bit too much to recover from one more time.”
Neill’s family announced on Monday that he had passed away at the age of 78.
“It is with immense sadness that the whānau [family] of Sam Neill share the news of his passing on Monday 13th July, in Sydney Australia,” the actor’s loved ones stated. “Sam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterized his whole life. The loss was sudden and unexpected but blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer free.”
His family further shared their “deepest gratitude” for 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,” they added.
Neill’s ‘Hunt for the Wilderpeople’ Co-Star Said He Battled Pneumonia Before His Death
Rima Te Wiata, who appeared alongside Neill in the 2016 film Hunt for the Wilderpeople, stated on Ryan Bridge TODAY that he had been battling pneumonia before his death.
“He was a very steady, peaceful, grounded man,” Te Wiata explained.
Te Wiata then said that Neill was “very good energy to be around.”
Neill is survived by his four children and eight grandchildren.