Mark Ruffalo Says He Realized He Had A Brain Tumor Thanks To A 'Crazy' Dream

Some say our dreams are trying to tell us something and are revelations about ourselves.

For actor Mark Ruffalo, his dream was a distress call that wound up saving his life.

In June 2001, Ruffalo discovered he had a type of brain tumor known as an acoustic neuroma, which is a noncancerous tumor on the main nerve connecting the inner ear and the brain.

He was 33 at the time and he kept it secret from his wife Sunrise Coigney for two weeks.

They had only been married for a year and she was pregnant with their first son, Keen.

Ruffalo talked about the prophecy that came to him on Monday's Smartless podcast episode co-hosted by actors Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett.

The Poor Things star recalled:

“I just had this crazy dream. And it wasn’t like any other dream I’d ever had. It was just like, ‘You have a brain tumor.’"

"It wasn’t even a voice. It was just pure knowledge, ‘You have a brain tumor, and you have to deal with it immediately.’”

It's a good thing he didn't ignore the call from inside the house.

Ruffalo saw a doctor that day and learned that, indeed, something was not right.

He reflected on his request for a CAT scan:  

“I said, ‘Listen, this is going to sound crazy, but I had this dream last night that I had a brain tumor.'"

“She comes in and she’s just kind of like a zombie and she says, ‘You have a mass behind your ear the size of a golf ball.’”

You can hear the podcast segment, here.

Mark Ruffalo | Smartlessyoutu.be

People were stunned by the revelation.

A biopsy revealed that the tumor was benign, but after undergoing surgery to remove the mass, Ruffalo was left with partial facial paralysis and hearing loss.

While the paralysis subsided a year later, the actor remains deaf in his left ear.

Ruffalo revisited the scary situation in a 2013 interview with the Acoustic Neuroma Association.

He told the nonprofit organization:

“It was scary, obviously, and I also had an odd bit of shame about it, or fear about it, and how it would be perceived—especially in my profession."

"So I didn’t really tell anybody. I told my best friend … my manager … and I told my family.”

He said his wife told him after finally learning of the diagnosis, “I always knew you were gonna die young.”

The health crisis occurred just as he gained recognition playing Laura Linney's character's brother in the 2000 drama film, You Can Count on Me.

His partial hearing loss has not prevented him from gaining further success as an established actor.

He has appeared in films across different genres like the 2004 sci-fi romantic drama, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, the 2005 rom-com Just Like Heaven, and most notably as Dr. Bruce Banner/Hulk in several Marvel Cinematic Universe films, including The Avengers, Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers: Infinity War, Captain Marvel, and Avengers: Endgame.

The 56-year-old is the recipient of the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor in a TV Movie for playing a gay writer/activist in the 2014 TV drama adaptation of Larry Kramer's AIDS-era play The Normal Heart; and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for playing identical twins in the 2020 HBO miniseries I Know This Much Is True.