Actor Ben Stiller, now 60, is more than a decade past his prostate cancer battle, yet he still vividly recalls the moment his doctor called to say he was “cancer‑free.” The news was euphoric—so powerful that even 11 years into remission, he admits he still tries to hold onto that feeling.
Known for iconic films like “Zoolander,” “Meet the Parents,” and “There’s Something About Mary,” Stiller has spent his career moving seamlessly between acting, directing, and producing. In a recent conversation with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, he reflected on both his life’s work and the moment he learned his treatment had succeeded.
Read More“PSA screening should begin around the age of 45 to 50 and can be done every two to four years, although I believe most urologists and primary care physicians do an annual screening,” Dr. Shirin Razdan, director of the robotic surgery department at the Comprehensive Urological Surgery Institute in Miami, tells SurvivorNet.
“There is a recommendation, however, to start that screening as young as 40 in men who are high-risk. Now, who are those men? [Those with] family history and African-American men,” she adds.
Currently, widely supported recommendations are:
- Men aged 55 to 69 are the group most likely to benefit from PSA screening. If you are in this age range, discuss screening with your doctor.
- Men younger than 55 with high risk — which includes those with a strong family history, African American men, or those with known genetic mutations (like BRCA1 or BRCA2) — may need to start screening earlier, even in their 40s.
- For men age 70 and older, routine screening is generally not recommended unless you are in excellent health and have a long life expectancy.
There are both benefits and risks to undergoing regular PSA screening. Benefits include:
- May detect cancer before it spreads
- Offers the possibility of early treatment with curative intent
- Can provide peace of mind for high-risk individuals
Risks include:
- False positives that may lead to unnecessary biopsies
- Detection of indolent cancers that would never cause harm
- Psychological stress from ambiguous results
How Stiller Navigated Prostate Cancer
“[Prostate cancer] It’s scary because all of a sudden it’s like boom, stop because you don’t know if you’re going to be alive in six months if this doesn’t get dealt with,” Stiller shared during a candid conversation on The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway.
The episode, centered on the “Power of Failure,” traced Stiller’s journey through personal and professional setbacks—including a lesser-known film flop from his early career. He recalled his excitement at landing a role in the 1980s coming-of-age movie Brat Pack, hoping it would propel his acting career.
WATCH: Key Information for Patients Evaluating Prostate Cancer Treatment Options.
“I was like, ‘Oh man, I’m going to be in the Brat Pack. I’m going to be in the movies,” he said.
Despite the film’s poor box office performance, Stiller holds the experience close to his heart.
“The movie just tanked, but it was, literally to this day, my favorite experience ever making a movie,” he said.
But the conversation took a deeper turn when Stiller opened up about his health journey—a diagnosis that would change everything.
“I had a bad diagnosis in terms of my doctor wasn’t great at what he told me. PSA test, and you have to watch it,” he explained. “My doctor started testing me early because he saw it growing. Then you do a biopsy when they see something spiking up there, which is scary.”
The initial shock led Stiller to seek a second opinion, where he found a more compassionate and proactive approach.
“The new doctor laid it out and said you’ve got to do this operation, and that was ten years ago, and I’m cancer-free,” he said.
From an Elevated PSA Test to Prostate Cancer Surgery
When Stiller was diagnosed, he happened to get a prostate-specific antigen test (PSA), which measures the prostate-specific antigen in the blood. An elevated PSA level in the blood does not always mean you have prostate cancer, but it does call for further tests. The “Zoolander” also underwent a biopsy, which revealed he had “mid-range aggressive” cancer.
WATCH: Myth-Busting — Prostate Cancer Screening: Understanding PSA, Digital Exams & Family Risk
Since he was at higher risk, Stiller had a prostatectomy. This procedure is an option for men with any risk group of prostate cancer that hasn’t spread outside of the prostate gland.
During the procedure, the surgeon removes the entire prostate, along with some tissue around it, including the seminal vesicles that release fluid into the semen. Side effects may follow this procedure, which may include erectile dysfunction and urinary incontinence.
Radical prostatectomy, or the removal of the prostate gland, remains a highly effective and widely used treatment for localized prostate cancer, particularly in younger and healthier men.
WATCH: Preparing For Prostate Cancer Surgery: Before, During & After
Dr. Sanjay Razdan, a surgeon at the International Robotic Institute for Prostate Cancer in Florida, tells SurvivorNet that patients shouldn’t expect to be in surgery for much more than an hour — and most patients leave the hospital the next day.
“My average time is about 80 minutes across the board, so that’s an hour and 20 minutes max,” Dr. Razdan says of the assisted surgery he performs. “We are done with the surgery, they go back to the recovery area, then to their room.
“Four hours later, they’re walking around in the hospital. Overnight stay, next morning, they have breakfast, and they’re out of the hospital,” he adds.
Many patients worry about surgery side effects, such as incontinence (trouble controlling urine) and erectile dysfunction, but rest assured, most patients regain a high quality of life with time and support.
Prostate Cancer Side Effects
After prostate cancer surgery, questions surrounding how long these side effects may linger are what the CEASAR (Comparative Effectiveness Analysis of Surgery and Radiation for Localized Prostate Cancer) study, coordinated by Vanderbilt University Medical Center, sought to answer.
The study followed roughly 2,500 men from diverse backgrounds in the United States. All of the men were diagnosed between 2011 and 2012 with prostate cancer and had received treatment.
Over ten years, the participants were closely monitored and asked to answer several questions regarding side effects related to urinary, bowel, sexual, and hormone therapy.
The participants were placed into two groups depending on their treatment plan. One group included patients treated with active surveillance, nerve-sparing prostatectomy, external beam radiation therapy (EBRT), and low-dose-rate brachytherapy.
Active surveillance is a “watch-and-wait” approach for men with low-risk prostate cancer, meaning you have a small number of cancer cells found in your biopsy, a low PSA, and a low-grade cancer. This approach is typically enough for men with low-risk prostate cancer. However, if you’ve been diagnosed with moderate-risk cancer, more may be needed.
WATCH: Understanding How Active Surveillance Works
Nerve-sparing prostatectomy surgically removes the prostate while protecting the nerves to minimize the side effects of erectile dysfunction. External beam radiation therapy uses high doses of radiation to stop cancer cells from dividing and shrinking tumors. Low-dose-rate brachytherapy is a form of radiotherapy.
The second group of study participants was treated with prostatectomy or external beam radiation therapy with androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), which combines radiation treatment with anti-hormone therapy, which reduces the male hormone androgen.
The study’s findings suggest that for “Men with localized prostate cancer (cancer confined to the prostate), radical prostatectomy was associated with a greater decrease in sexual function and urinary incontinence than either EBRT or active surveillance after three years and was associated with fewer urinary irritative symptoms than active surveillance.”
“However, no meaningful differences existed in either bowel or hormonal function beyond 12 months or in other domains of health-related quality of life measures.”
“If they have a prior good erectile function and they’re young and you’ve done a good nerve preservation, then they’ve got over a 95% chance that they will be able to resume sexual activity at some point in time, sooner rather than later,” Dr. Razdan explains.
Managing Prostate Cancer & Treatment Side Effects
For men with localized prostate cancer, radical prostatectomy was associated with “significant declines in sexual function” compared with EBRT and active surveillance. Urinary incontinence scores by participants also “declined significantly after surgery compared with EBRT and active surveillance.”
WATCH: A Healthy Sex Life Is Possible After Prostate Cancer
In addition to gauging possible long-term side effects of certain prostate cancer treatments, researchers say they hope their findings help patients and their care team fine-tune their treatment outlook.
“The findings underscore the importance of counseling men with unfavorable prognosis prostate cancer differently than favorable prognosis cancer regarding expected long-term functional outcomes and suggest that adverse effects of treatments on sexual function may be deemphasized in decision making for some men,” senior author Dr. Daniel Barocas professor and executive vice chair of Urology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) told the VUCM Reporter.
Questions for Your Doctor
If you have experienced symptoms associated with prostate cancer or have a screening coming up, here are some questions you may ask your doctor:
- If I had elevated PSA levels, what could be causing that besides cancer?
- How long will it take to learn if my PSA levels warrant further testing?
- What are the treatment options that are best suited for me based on my risk level?
- What financial resources exist to help me with the costs associated with treatment?
- How long will my potential treatment prevent me from working or continuing normal activities?
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