Hugh Jackman is detailing his past skin cancer scares in the upcoming Conquering Skin Cancer documentary.
“I remember feeling pretty scared,” Jackman, 56, said in a recent trailer for the Australian film, later advising viewers to wear sunblock. “Please wear sunscreen! It is just not worth it. No matter how much you want a tan, trust me.”
Jackman also urged viewers to undergo tests for melanoma, adding, “I promise you won’t regret it.”
The Deadpool and Wolverine star first dealt with skin cancer in 2014.
“Another Basel Cell Carsinoma [sic]. All out now,” Jackman wrote via Instagram in May 2024. “Thanks Dr. Albom and Dr. Arian. PLEASE! PLEASE! WEAR SUNSCREEN!”
Seven years later, he detailed his annual cancer check.
“I recommend getting a skin check — regularly,” he said in an April 2021 social media video. “I know I’ve said it before, I know I may be boring you with this, but it’s super easy to do and it’s really, really important to be preemptive with these things. If you’re like me and you didn’t really know any better when you were young and you didn’t wear sunscreen and you were in the Australian sun, then you need to get a check-up even more.”
He added, “But if not — it doesn’t matter who you are — next time you are with your doctor or with a specialist, just say, ‘Can you please give me a skin check?’ At least once a year — just do it.”
At the time, Jackman underwent a biopsy that he said was “pre-cancerous.”
“I’m really, really glad I went,” he stressed.
Jackman had another biopsy on his nose the following August.
“If it is anything, which it may not be, it’s basal cell carcinoma,” he recalled on the BBC’s One Show in August 2021. “That’s the least dangerous form of cancer. … It’s certainly not my first. I’ve had about five or six of them now and pretty common when you have English parents and they drag you out to Australia when you’re a baby and you play cricket your whole life without sunscreen. So, wear sunscreen and get a skin check!”
The biopsy ultimately came back “inconclusive,” per a social media message.
“This means they didn’t take enough. That said, the worst it can be is a Basel Cell Carcinoma (BCC). So when I’m done filming, I’ll have it rechecked,” he wrote on Instagram. “I know I’m repeating myself and will probably not stop … please get skin checks and wear sunscreen. Thank you all for so much support. I’m seeing your comments and stories. If by posting about this I remind one person to go see their dermatologist — I’m happy.”
Conquering Skin Cancer hits theaters in Australia beginning Wednesday, November 20. It is not currently known whether the film will premiere later in the United States.
