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Olivia Williams, best known for her role in The Sixth Sense, recently opened up about her years-long struggle with misdiagnoses before receiving her cancer diagnosis. The 56-year-old actress revealed in an interview with The Times on April 19, 2025, that due to delayed treatment, she would never be "cancer-free".
Olivia Williams portrayed Anna Crowe, the wife of child psychologist Dr. Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis), in M. Night Shyamalan’s 1999 supernatural thriller The Sixth Sense.
According to The Times, Williams’ health troubles began with an array of symptoms, including aching limbs, exhaustion, and chronic diarrhea, that doctors reportedly dismissed. Over four years, she consulted 10 doctors in three countries and was misdiagnosed with disorders ranging from lupus to perimenopause. One doctor even suggested a psychiatric evaluation.
In 2018, a Los Angeles specialist discovered that she had a VIPoma, a rare pancreatic tumor. By then, the cancer had metastasized to her liver.
More about Olivia Williams' statements about her health
The Crown actress expressed her thoughts about being misdiagnosed, stating:
“If someone had f*****g well diagnosed me in the four years I’d been saying I was ill, when they told me I was menopausal or had irritable bowel syndrome or [was] crazy — I used that word advisedly because one doctor referred me for a psychiatric assessment — then one operation possibly could have cleared the whole thing and I could describe myself as cancer-free, which I cannot now ever be."
Williams also acknowledged the turn her illness had taken with metastasis, stating that "anyone involved in the cancer life knows, [it's] the worst news.”
Olivia regularly undergoes “microwave ablation” treatments to attack recurring cancer cells, a process that she says is “like playing whack-a-mole.” The actress further detailed about her regular check-ups.
“I go in like a puppy with this optimistic, bright face and then they give me bad news, and it’s like, oh my God, I fell for it again. They’ve found new metastases pretty well either just before Christmas or in the middle of a summer holiday. Then, for three years in a row, they started appearing too close to major blood vessels to zap. So there was a period when we were just sitting and watching them grow, which is a horrible feeling.”
However, Olivia Williams stated that she was not looking for sympathy, but instead aimed to turn her situation into advocacy. The actress is calling for the development of cheap and early detection methods for pancreatic cancer, and is supporting Pancreatic Cancer UK, the London Marathon’s charity of the year, to help generate funds for the cause.
Between treatments, Williams focuses on work and family, raising two daughters, now 20 and 17. The actress revealed that she does hot yoga, not only to be physically resilient, but also to remind herself of her body’s endurance. "I look in awe at my body," she said. "What you’ve been through, and you can still walk, run, eat—it’s a miracle."
Olivia Williams recently starred in the TV series Dune: Prophecy, which was released in November 2024, and in The Wheel of Time season 3, which wrapped up this month.
