"But actually, because of the nature of my life and the nature of what happened to me in my early life - my [alcohol] addiction - I know I have been very lucky.
"At the last minute I found something I could do. Somebody said: why don't you watch television, eat good food and travel and then write about it? And, as lives go, that's pretty good."
Gill, who was married to British Home Secretary Amber Rudd during the 90s, said the disease had spread to several parts of his body, restricting his ability to exercise and travel during treatment.
A dyslexic who dictated his copy, Gill joined the Sunday Times in 1993, after a brief spell at Tatler. According to his colleague Lynn Barber, "he quickly established himself as their shiniest star".
Sunday Times editor Martin Ivens said: "His wit was incomparable, his writing was dazzling and fearless, his intelligence was matched by compassion."
Gill had studied art at the Central St Martins College of Art of Design and the Slade School of Fine Art.
A talent from an early age, Gill was also an alcoholic who, at 30, was told by doctors he would be dead by Christmas if he didn't stop drinking. He never drank again but wrote about his addiction in a memoir, Pour Me: A Life, published last year.
William Sitwell, fellow restaurant critic and editor of Waitrose Food and editorial director (food) at John Brown Media, said: "Adrian had a way with words, phrases and sentences that elevated his prose from mere language. His text danced across the page, there was sheer delight, music even, in the way he wrote.
"He wrote about restaurants as someone who knew a great deal about food but did not think of themselves as part of the food scene. Somehow he remained an outsider, which meant he could remain impartial."
