Jurassic Park star Sam Neill reveals heartbreaking loss as he shares a bittersweet tribute while in mourning
The Jurassic Park star, 77, revealed his 'beloved duck', named Magda, had died in her sleep at his vineyard Two Paddocks in New Zealand.
He shared a video of the waterfowl to his Instagram, revealing she passed away while he was out of the country.
'SAD DAY. Very upset to hear that in my absence, dear old Magda, my beloved duck, passed away this week,' he wrote.
'Bruce [a member of the vineyard's team] found her in the long grass—she had died peacefully in her sleep. This was my last time with her a few weeks back.'
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In the clip Sam posted, the actor could be seen smiling as he cradled the black and white duck and spoke about her recent ducklings.
'She was a miracle old duck—very late in life she finally hatched some eggs and raised two hell-raiser ducklings,' Sam continued in the caption.
'Today, they stand by the dam saying goodbye to their mother, as KEVIN THE KAKA [another duck] flies past, as a salute to the old girl! Farewell Magda, my little friend.'
It comes after Sam went into remission following a 'brutal' battle with cancer.
He revealed on an episode of the ABC series The Assembly last year he was undergoing chemotherapy after being diagnosed with stage-three blood cancer.
'I'm on a different one now, so at least I don't look like somebody's bald thumb,' he joked at the time.
'That's what I looked like for quite a while—it was embarrassing, and I lost my beard and everything, and my dignity went with it.'
Sam said he found out he had cancer in 2022 during his first trip back to New Zealand after lockdowns made returning home to see his family virtually impossible.
He had been away from his loved ones for two years and had only been back in his home country for an hour when a doctor called and told him the awful news.
Sam and his son Tim recounted the harrowing time with Australian Story last year.
'When he hung the phone up and we sat down, and we had a little bit of a cry together. It was supposed to be a happy day. He didn't get to stay,' Tim said.
Sam added: 'I was in really a fight for my life. And everything was a new world and a rather alarming world.'
The actor had a brief upswing in health following the chemotherapy, but the cancer returned with a vengeance.
Thankfully, Sam was eventually put on an experimental cancer drug which began to work after.
He has been in remission for two years now, but admitted he is 'prepared' for the drug to eventually stop working.
'I know I've got it, but I'm not really interested in it. It's out of my control. If you can't control it, don't get into it,' he said of the disease.
Sam now has infusions every two weeks and will do so for the rest of his life or until the drug stops working.
The sessions are gruelling, 'very grim and depressing', he said.
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