'Young and the Restless' Star Eric Braeden Shares He Is Cancer-Free: 'I Love Life'

Young and the Restless star Eric Braeden is cancer-free.

The German actor, 82, who has portrayed Victor Newman on the soap opera for over four decades, shared the good news on Facebook Live on Sunday.

“As of three days ago, I am cancer-free,” Braeden said in the video.

The soap opera star, who first shared his diagnosis in April, expressed gratitude to his fans. “I thank you for all of your good thoughts, all of your prayers,” he said, adding that they “meant a great deal to me.”

Braeden continued, “I can tell you it obviously has helped because I had my last cystoscopy two days ago — that’s when they thread a camera into your bladder — and I am cancer-free.”

“They couldn’t find a damn thing,” he added. “Isn’t that nice?”

The veteran actor went on to say that just because his bladder is free of cancer cells does not mean that “this is all over.” 

According to the Young and the Restless star, he is still waiting on the results of an MRI, which will confirm whether his cancer has spread from his bladder. And, if the results bring good news, he said he still has to undergo several prophylactic infusions.

“That obviously makes me happy,” the actor said of his new cancer-free status, adding later in the live video that “getting old is great."

“I love life, man. Why wouldn’t I?” he said. “I’m working on the No. 1 show. It has been No. 1 for 38 years now. Why would I complain? That would be obscene.”

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In May, Braeden spoke candidly with PEOPLE about his cancer diagnosis — which he had revealed just a month earlier — and why he decided to share it.

“I decided to go public with it because I can help people not to be so fearful of it,” the actor told PEOPLE, explaining that he also hoped his diagnosis would serve as a reminder for men to “have this damn thing checked out.”

“The first indications are difficulty to urinate or to empty your bladder completely, and that increases as the prostate grows,” he explained. “It impinges on the urethra, and as it grows more, it impinges more. Hence, the flow is restricted.”

He continued: “It gets to the point where you wake up every half hour not to pee, because you can't get rid of it. That's as graphic and as simple as it gets."

After initially receiving a misdiagnosis (another reason he wanted to spread awareness), a urologist confirmed that Braeden had stage 1 bladder cancer — but the actor said he wasn't too worried when he received the news.

“I knew I was going to meet it head-on,” he told PEOPLE.