RELATED: Maria Menounos Says This Was the First Symptom of Her Brain Tumor. Watson recalls the exact moment in March of 2002 that he knew something was wrong with his health. “I remember being in New York doing publicity for a movie I did that was coming out. It was around St. Patricks Day. My brother asked me if I was going to have a pint or a whiskey. I told him I was too tired to go out and that felt odd to me,” he told GQ in 2020. While he remembers feeling “certain that something was going on” with his body, the actor says he rationalized his symptoms, attributing the extreme fatigue to his busy work schedule at the time. When Watson later noticed a lump in his neck and developed night sweats, he knew he could no longer brush his concerns aside. These two new symptoms prompted him to call his doctor, leading to a cancer screening and biopsy that confirmed he had Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. RELATED: HGTV’s Tarek El Moussa Says This Was His First Thyroid Cancer Symptom. Watson embarked on an aggressive treatment plan, which required chemotherapy every two weeks for six months. “I was ready to do whatever I needed to do to get the cancer out of my body,” he told Coping with Cancer Magazine in 2014. Though Watson took a leave of absence as an actor, he says he was able to continue working behind the scenes when he felt up to it. “Brenda Hampton, who created 7th Heaven, gave me a job on the show as story editor. That was a godsend because it kept me focused on something else—not my cancer,” he said. Three months into his treatment, Watson learned that his cancer was no longer detectable—a fact that he says made the second half of his chemo regimen easier to endure. When he finished his course of treatment, he returned to 7th Heaven onscreen, restarting on the 150th episode. Watson has opened up about the many ways having cancer at such a young age has changed his outlook on life. Now married to Natasha Gregson Wagner (daughter of legendary film star Natalie Wood) and a father of three, he says his health history reminds him to focus on what’s in front of him. “I don’t worry about the little things so much anymore,” the star told Coping. “I try not to let the stupid little things take away from the beautiful things that I have going on in my life–[my partner] Natasha, my kids,” he said. “I see life a little brighter than I used to. Every color is a little more vibrant.“ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb Reflecting on his battle with cancer, the star says he’s made the most of a difficult experience. “I wish I didn’t have to go through it,” he said. “But there’s a big part of me that’s glad that I went through this experience because it’s made me who I am now, which is, hopefully, a better human being, a better dad, maybe even a better actor.” For more health news sent directly to your inbox, sign up for our daily newsletter. These days, Watson says his fight against Hodgkin’s Lymphoma is a distant memory. “It feels like a lifetime ago,” he told ABC News in 2021. Yet the star has learned valuable lessons, and now hopes to share some of what he’s gleaned from the experience with others. First and foremost, he says, he hopes his story will serve as a reminder to always consult a doctor when something seems not quite right. He adds that this is especially important since the pandemic has kept so many people away from their healthcare providers. “For the last year and a half with COVID-19, people were almost staying away from their doctor at times. It’s more important now than ever to get your checkups, get your bloodwork done. Looking back, my body was trying to tell me something way before I was diagnosed,” he told ABC News. “Listen to your body.” RELATED: The First Thing Sofía Vergara Did When She Was Diagnosed With Thyroid Cancer.
