Johnny Ruffo teases his return to Home and Away

Former Home and Away actor Johnny Ruffo has said that he would love to come back and star on the soap again.

Ruffo played Chris Harrington on Home and Away from 2013-2016 and announced he had been diagnosed with brain cancer a year after leaving the show.The now 34-year-old has battled cancer on and off ever since his diagnosis.

“I’d love to go back on Home and Away [and] spend some more time with Irene. We had a great relationship on [the show] and we still have a great relationship out of Home and Away, Lynne and I,” he told Yahoo Lifestyle!.

The Australian actor told the publication that he and Jacqy Phillips, who plays Irene on the soap, have remained close friends since he left the show.

“We are really good friends,” he explained to the publication and added that he was going out for dinner with the actress soon.

Speaking of how he’d like to return to the show, Ruffo said he’d like to show up at the Summer Bay diner unannounced.

“Just waltz in, like not tell anyone, just waltz on in and order a coffee. And Lynne — I mean Irene — would be like…Chris!” he said.

Ruffo was first diagnosed with the devastating disease in November 2017. Appearing on 7NEWS Spotlight in June of this year, the actor and singer emotionally recalled receiving the diagnosis. Ruffo revealed that he was taken to the emergency room after suffering from chronic headaches.

“They told me I have brain cancer. And it was like, wow, my whole world just got flipped upside down,” he said.

“The day that it truly sunk in was maybe, I don’t know, three or four weeks into radiotherapy.

“I was at home one day, and I was watching television, and I just went to just scratch my hair, and I had a whole clump of hair in my hand, and I just broke down and I cried and cried and cried.

“And I went and sat in the shower and I just ripped all my hair out and I cried so much, and it was the worst day of my life. It was horrible.”

After rounds of chemotherapy, Ruffo officially went into remission in 2019, but the brain cancer returned in 2020. Last November, he shared the devastating news with his followers on Instagram.

“After an unexpected week of seizures and excruciating headaches it is with a heavy heart that I have to let you know I now have another huge battle ahead of me as my brain cancer has returned, though I will dig deep and beat this shit disease again  #fuckcancer,” he posted on the social media platform.

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