Mark Ruffalo went on to earn immense praise and recognition when he starred as Hulk in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Just like his character struggles with issues of identity, responsibility, anger, and isolation, Ruffalo too has had to go through similar experiences for the majority of his life.
Losing family to bankruptcy, dealing with extreme anger issues and anxiety, having to live through ‘crack wars’, and living through poverty, Ruffalo has gone through some of the worst of times. However, just when things were starting to look up, the actor was diagnosed with a brain tumor, subsequently having the left part of his face paralyzed and making him hide for a year.
Mark Ruffalo Suffered A Brain Tumor While At The Start Of His ‘Glorious’ Career
Also Read: “We Can Do Better”: Mark Ruffalo Steps Into Controversy Yet Again, Hulks Out On The White House
Mark Ruffalo’s life has been so eventful in a tragic way that numerous gut-wrenching stories can be woven out of it. From losing his brother to his best friend’s suicide, he has undergone enough trauma to last lifetimes. Despite it all he survived and strived, hoping for better times.
Just when things were going well, his wife was about to give birth and he had been filming with one of his idols, tragedy struck. Talking to MensJournal, the Avengers star stated,
“It was big-time. There I was with one of my heroes [filming The Last Castle], Robert Redford, doing this walk-and-talk. I’m like, ‘What the f*ck am I doing here? This is my wildest dream come true!’ And then I found out I had my brain tumor.”
The actor has a wild dream that he has a brain tumor and went off to the doctors, who confirmed it was indeed a walnut-size tumor just behind his left year. With his wife pregnant with their first child and him finally faring well in his acting career, he had no idea how to tell this to his family.
Finally, a week after his first child was born, he broke the news; going under the knife just two weeks later.
Mark Ruffalo Went Into Hiding For A Year After His Face Paralysis
Mark Ruffalo was diagnosed with Acoustic Neuroma and was informed that while surgery was possible, he faced a 30% chance of having the left side of his paralyzed, he made a tape for his son.
After the surgery, the tumor was successfully removed but it left the left side of his face paralyzed. Unable to cope with the fact, he went into hiding for almost a year unsure if he would ever be able to return to acting or even function normally. Fortunately for him, in just under a year, the paralysis went away.
While he returned to the world of acting again, this was only one of his many tragedies as others would follow later. But in spite of them all, Ruffalo didn’t let anything drag him down, continuing to move forward despite the pain and tragedies hovering around him, proving he was meant to be a superhero.
