Ben Stiller reveals he battled prostate cancer

Actor Ben Stiller recently revealed that a prostate cancer diagnosis "came out of the blue" when he was 48. 

In an interview Tuesday with Howard Stern, Stiller spoke publicly for the first time about the cancer.

He said "he had no idea" he had the disease until he got tested by his doctor. 

"If I hadn't gotten the test -- my doctor started giving it to me at about 46 -- I would not have known, and right now, I still would not have known," Stiller said.

Stiller, whose cancer was detected in an "intermediately aggressive" stage, said he beat the cancer after undergoing surgery.

"At first I didn't know what was going to happen. I was scared," he said. "One thing that it does is, it just stops everything in your life when you get a diagnosis of cancer ... because you don't know what's going to happen."

Stiller said that after being diagnosed, he researched the disease and called former co-star Robert De Niro, who also had prostate cancer and suggested a doctor.

"I wanted to talk about it because of the test because I feel like the test saved my life," Stiller said. "I was really lucky ... It's part of who I am now. (The test) saved my life. I got to say something."

Listen to Stiller's full interview on "Howard Stern" here.

Cox Media Group