Sam Neill on brief relationship with Heather Mitchell, cancer update and Cillian Murphy’s Kiwi visit

Sam Neill has given an in-depth interview about his brief fling with an Australian star, a health update and an A-lister's secret Kiwi visit. Photo / Getty Images

Kiwi actor Sam Neill recently sat down for an in-depth interview with Stellar Magazine, in which he spoke to Australian actress and former girlfriend Heather Mitchell about their brief fling. The pair also shared an update on their mutual cancer battles and Neill spoke about the special visit he and his Central Otago farm received from an A-list actor earlier this year.

New Zealand actor Sam Neill is no stranger to the public eye – especially in the past couple of years. After the release of his unexpected memoir, Did I Ever Tell You This? in 2022, as well as starring in new TV shows The Twelve and Apples Never Fall, the actor has given many vulnerable and revealing interviews.

And his latest is no different.

Sitting down with Stellar Magazine, the Jurassic Park actor lifted the lid on his brief romance with an Australian star, shared a cancer update and revealed an A-lister’s surprise Central Otago stay just days after winning an Oscar.

When interviewed by his former flame Heather Mitchell for the cover of the Daily Telegraph’s lifestyle magazine, the pair shared some new details about their romantic relationship, including why they decided to call it quits.

Mitchell – who is most well known for her work in the Australian TV drama Love Me – dated Neill briefly in 1985. While the pair ultimately split and she married cinematographer Martin McGrath while Neill was married to Noriko Watanabe between 1989 and 2017, the pair remain great friends.

Painting a picture of how they first met, Mitchell, 66, told Neill, 76, she remembered meeting him while on the way to the office of their mutual agent Bill Shanahan in 1985 when he complimented her “Hollywood hair”.

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The pair continued to discuss their brief fling and noted that they remember the reason for their break-up to be for different things.

Mitchell confessed she thinks she “did something that upset” the Kiwi actor, while the Jurassic Park actor claimed it was for something entirely different.

“We were both invited to a party and you were upset with me for some reason. So I turn up thrilled to see you – and you wouldn’t talk to me. You wouldn’t even look at me,” he said.

Following the party, Neill said he left for England, leaving no number for Mitchell to contact him on, however he did send her a token of his love just weeks after the break-up: a Joe Furlonger painting.

The painting was of a happy woman with an upset man walking away – a representation of what happened between them. It still remains in his former fling’s house.

Kiwi actor Sam Neill and Australian actress Heather Mitchell reunited for an in-depth interview for Stellar Magazine. Photo / Stellar Magazine

Joking that they “might still be together” had they had an open line of communication earlier, Mitchell and Neill said they are still “good friends”.

Elsewhere in the interview, the pair discussed their mutual cancer diagnosis and how it resulted in them creating a “cancer club” with two other friends.

Mitchell – who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004 and again in 2022 – confessed the group were very close and said: “We formed this cancer club and had T-shirts... I was in Perth when you were doing your treatments and filming. You’d feel so crap that you couldn’t sleep but the next day you’d be back on set. I never heard you complain. I’ve never heard you say ‘this is hard’ or being self-pitying.”

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Neill, who was diagnosed with angioimmunoblastic T cell lymphoma – a form of blood cancer, in 2022 – said two of the group’s members sadly lost their battle with the disease and said ultimately what got him through was “being with other people”.

He continued to say he didn’t enjoy being on his own or “feeling solitary”, so he found being on set filming The Twelve helpful.

The star continued to say the disease is a good reminder that you’re not “dying from it” but rather “living with it”.

“It will kill me one day, but we’ve all got to die,” he candidly confessed.

The star told Entertainment Tonight in March that he has been in remission for two years and “feels great”.

In his interview with Mitchell, the Hunt for the Wilderpeople star also confirmed the long-speculated theory that his friend and former co-star, Cillian Murphy, visited New Zealand earlier this year.

Noting the A-list actor came to stay at Neill’s Central Otago farm just days after winning the Best Actor Oscar for Oppenheimer in March, the star gushed about Kiwis’ laid-back approach to famous people and said during Murphy’s visit, the star was “hesitant” to go out in public but Neill assured him no one would “give you trouble”.

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Neill said they pair visited a busy coffee shop and “no one said a thing”. No one requested an autograph.

Neill and Murphy have been longtime friends after starring in the series Peaky Blinders together.

Between 2013 and 2014, Neill starred as Chief Inspector Chester Campbell for 12 episodes in the hit show while Murphy played the lead role of Thomas “Tommy” Shelby.

The pair’s rendezvous after the Academy Awards was no secret, with Neill sharing a photo with his friend and his Oscar on Instagram just one day after the win.

“Here’s me [sic] pal Cillian Murphy the next day with the Gold Fella and me.

Cillian Murphy and Sam Neill celebrate the Oppenheimer star's Oscar win. Photo / Sam Neill

“I could not be more thrilled as you see. So well deserved.

“We had a great catch up and a Bloody Mary or two.

“What an actor, what a performance and what a movie.”

Neill’s new series, Apples Never Fall, is available to view on TVNZ+.