Rod Stewart has candidly shared about a chilling health scare that left him feeling “fearful” and “vulnerable”. In his 2012 autobiography, ‘Rod: The Autobiography’, the Maggie May singer detailed how he discovered his alarming diagnosis during a routine check-up at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, US.
Despite considering himself as “fit as a butcher’s dog”, Rod underwent several tests. He was then called into the doctor’s office after something suspicious was detected on his thyroid gland.
In his book, he recounted: “The following day, I went back to the hospital and underwent a biopsy. Under a local anaesthetic, part of the affected area was removed using a needle and taken away for analysis.”
He continued: “And the day after that, I got a call at home, which I took standing up and which made my palms go cold. The results of the tests indicated that the ‘something’ on my thyroid gland was a malignant growth: cancer.”
Rod confessed that such news can be profoundly unsettling, admitting that he felt “fearful” and “vulnerable to a degree” that he’d never experienced before, reports the Daily Record.
Rod, who said that this type of news will really do it to you, admitted that he was fearful
(Image: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Just two days later, he returned to the hospital for surgery, checking in under the pseudonym “Billy Potts”, a nod to his dogs’ names, to evade media attention. He disclosed that the four-hour operation involved a knife coming perilously close to his vocal cords, meaning “any slip” could have ended his singing career.
The procedure was a success and the singer didn’t need chemotherapy, sparing him the risk of hair lossa fate he jokingly referred to as a potential career-endangering issue “second only” to losing his vocals.
Nevertheless, during an appearance on Loose Women in 2021, Rod disclosed that he had, in fact, lost his voice. He shared that the days when he could “stay up all night, get drunk and go mad and still have a voice” were over, and now he needs to actively “protect” his singing.
Reflecting on his health scare, he remarked: “I had a touch of thyroid cancer, it was over and out within 10 minutes. I don’t want to pretend I fought cancer for months and months. It was really easy to get rid of, but I did lose my voice totally gone.”