Sam Neill had been “pretty sick” for a couple of weeks before his death, according to his former partner, journalist Laura Tingle.

Tingle, who dated Neill from 2018 to 2021, appeared on the ABC’s Sydney Mornings radio program on Tuesday (July 14th), where she gave host Hamish Macdonald further insight into the actor’s final days and his years-long fight with cancer, per Variety. 

Neill died on Monday at 78. His

said the loss was “sudden and unexpected but blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer free”, noting he had been battling a form of blood cancer since 2022 before revealing in April that he was in remission.

“He’d been fighting various forms of cancer for at least the last five years intensively. And that takes a toll on anybody’s body,” Tingle said.

“He’d had a lot of chemo and a lot of immunotherapy and, thankfully, it had finally cleared him of the blood cancer that he’d had, but it left him pretty compromised in terms of his immune system and I think his poor body sort of got a bit exhausted, as makes sense,” she continued. “So, he’s been pretty sick for the last couple of weeks and everybody who loved him has been willing him on, from near and far. But I think it was just a bit too much to recover from one more time.”

New Zealand actor Rima Te Wiata, who co-starred with Neill in Hunt for the Wilderpeople, told the New Zealand Herald that he had caught pneumonia before he died.

“It really sucks, actually,” Te Wiata said. “I think he would be like: ‘For goodness sake, I got over my cancer. And now look, now I get pneumonia. What next?’” She added that Neill is “on his big journey now.”

Neill’s family did not disclose a cause of death but thanked staff at St Vincent’s Private Hospital in Sydney “for their incredible care”, adding that more details would follow and asking for privacy “as they navigate this immeasurable loss”.

Tributes have poured in from across the industry since news of Neill’s death broke. Steven Spielberg remembered him as “exceptionally collaborative,” saying: “I adored making all the Jurassic movies with him. Along with Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum, we will always have our Jurassic family and Sam will never be forgotten by us or his many millions of fans around the world.”

Jimmy Barnes described Neill as “a big part of our lives”: “He was family. He lifted our spirits when he walked in the room. Sam was everything he appeared to be on the screen. Caring, funny, intelligent, charming, honest, talented, the list could go on. He sat with me while I recovered in hospital and I sat with him when he needed me,” he wrote online.

Also from Australia, Kath and Kim favourite Magda Szubanski said she was “absolutely devastated” by Neill’s death.

“Darling Sam. I really don’t have any words right now. I’m in complete shock. Last time we spoke he was going so well. My heart goes out to his family and all who love him – and there are so many of us. Vale my darling friend.”