“I was told I could die.” The moment Jacki Weaver discovered she had a mango-sized tumour.

For Australians, Jacki Weaver is a household name.

The 71-year-old actress is famous for her roles in Picnic at Hanging Rock, Bandstand and will soon be recognised in Stan’s new original series Bloom.

But on Sunday night, the actress showed a side of herself that her adoring fans had no idea existed.

Speaking to Charles Wooley on 60 Minutes, Weaver opened up about the moment she thought she was going to die.

“I was told I could die,” she shared. “It was frightening for myself, my husband and my family.”

Weaver had a pheochromocytoma, which is a rare form of tumour on the adrenal gland. While the rare tumours are usually the size of a twenty cent coin, the actress shared that her tumour was “as big as a mango”.

The surgery to remove the terrifying tumour took seven hours, and she has the scars to prove it.

“Six scars right across my abdomen. They were trying to save my kidney and my spleen because they thought I’d lose them as well,” she said.

She added that she is now feeling 100 per cent better.

“I’m only missing a mango-sized tumour and one adrenal gland, and the other one seems to be working fine,” she said.

“I kept it quiet. I was a little bit shy about it, but now I’m 100 per cent again,” she added.

Weaver will be starring in Stan’s new original series Bloom in January, playing a character living with dementia.