Dave Coulier Shares His Weight Loss Journey During Second Cancer Diagnosis
Dave Coulier has shared his weight loss journey after being diagnosed with HPV-related oropharyngeal tongue cancer.
The 66-year-old star informed People on December 2 that he has shed 10 pounds due to discomfort while eating. He mentioned that the treatment he is undergoing differs from chemotherapy, although it presents its own difficulties.
“I struggle with swallowing and speaking,” he revealed. “I sound like I’m drunk because of how I slur my words.”
Coulier was initially diagnosed with stage III non-Hodgkin lymphoma in October 2024 after experiencing severe lymph node swelling from an upper respiratory infection.
“I went from thinking I had a little cold to being told I have cancer, and it was incredibly overwhelming,” he shared with People, clarifying that it hadn’t spread to his bone marrow. “At that moment, my chances of a cure jumped from quite low to around 90 percent. That was a relief.”
Coulier likened his treatment experience to a “constant battle” during a January 2025 episode of his “Full House Rewind” podcast.
“The side effects bring about their own side effects,” he noted. “Then you take medication to counteract those, which just complicates things. It’s a continual cocktail, forcing your body to go into fight or flight, and you’re merely trying to adapt to the steroids and the chemotherapy mixture.”
“It’s certainly an internal struggle,” he added.
Earlier this year, Coulier learned he was cancer-free but has since been facing tongue cancer.
“Experiencing chemotherapy and feeling the relief of, ‘Wow, it’s gone,’ then receiving news of another form of cancer—it’s a shock to one’s system,” he stated on the Today show on Tuesday.
Coulier pointed out that he had displayed no symptoms prior to a serendipitous follow-up scan that confirmed his second cancer diagnosis.
“It’s been a challenging year; chemotherapy was tough,” Coulier recounted. “A few months back, during a PET scan, something unusual appeared. The doctor remarked, ‘We’re unsure what it is, but there’s something at the base of your tongue.’”
Coulier’s healthcare team reassured him that “the prognosis is promising.”
“They mentioned it might be due to having an HPV virus from up to 30 years ago. Many individuals carry the HPV virus, but they indicated that mine was activated and turned into a carcinoma,” he explained. “We caught it early enough for effective treatment. … It has a 90 percent curability rate.”
He added: “This treatment is a whole different experience compared to chemo. It doesn’t feel as intense, but side effects remain. I usually joke… I’m doing really well for someone with cancer. I get to welcome the new year by saying, ‘I just finished radiation yesterday!’ It feels almost serendipitous.”
