Forest Gump's Gary Sinise shares insight into return to acting after family tragedy

Gary Sinise, who is best known for his roles in and CSI: NY, has lifted the lid on the family tragedy that led him to quit his career on screen. The actor, now 70, put his life in Hollywood on hold after his wife and son were both diagnosed with cancer in the same year.

In the summer of 2018, was given the heartbreaking news that his partner Moira had been diagnosed with stage three breast cancer. Just months later, doctors discovered their son Mac had a rare form of bone cancer. Sinise walked away from acting to take care of his son, who tragically .

The actor has decided to honour his son's memory by releasing music that Mac made while he was still alive.

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He recently told : "Mac left us things that are beautiful. I want people to know who he was."

Sinise admitted that he is unlikely to return to acting anytime soon, adding: "Something may come along and it’ll be right, but it’s harder to leave home now. I just want to be around family. Since losing Mac, I hold my daughters a lot tighter. You think about the things that are really important."

While his wife, Moira, was successfully treated for breast cancer via chemotherapy and radiation, Mac's journey from sickness to health and then back again was more complicated.

After an MRI scan, doctors located Mac's tumour that Sinise has described as "a monster grabbing my son's spine", which they went on to remove. Sadly, his rare cancer soon returned.

At first, Gary tried to balance his home life with working on 13 Reasons Why and other projects he was involved in, but when his son was hospitalised for six months of the first half of 2020, he decided to prioritise looking after Mac.

He told People: "I became Mac’s air traffic controller. I didn’t want him thinking about the next treatment or worrying. So I took it all on myself. You’re trying to take the pain away.

"A few times I felt like I couldn’t do enough, or I didn’t know what to do. Then you say a little prayer, get back up, and go back into the fight."

Sadly, Mac died in January 2024. Since then, Sinise has been spending most of his time at home in Tennessee with his wife, having his daughters over often and "spoiling" his grandkids "rotten".

One of his girls, Ella, has shared an emotional reflection on her dad's dedication to Mac, saying: "Dad dove into the storm. Whatever’s going on in his life, he goes full on. He did amazing, but it was hard to watch because it was traumatising. It's a real testimony to his character—he doesn’t let adversity slow him down."

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