25 FAMOUS PEOPLE WHO HAVE SUFFERED CANCER - ARTE - 2025

Famous people with cancer (or who have had it) are numerous, they are not spared from this common disease. Show business is no exception; Famous actors, singers, businessmen or athletes have gone through this bad drink.

This disease is one of the worst that someone can suffer today. Did you know that the number of cancer cases will increase to 22 million during the next two decades? The pancreas, colon, breast or lung are usually the organs that are most affected by this disease.

Some got over it, others fell by the wayside. In today's article I bring you a list of famous people who have suffered from cancer. Many have suffered and have overcome it, but there are others who, unfortunately, did not suffer the same fate.

Famous people who survived cancer

1- Mark Ruffalo

The actor, known for playing the Hulk in famous Marvel movies, suffered a brain tumor a few years ago.

According to her account, she had such a severe pain in her head that she decided to see a doctor. Unfortunately for him, the disease was detected at a time when his wife was about to give birth. For this reason, he did not make it public until the week after his birth.

Favorably, the surgery that was applied served to successfully remove the tumor: “all that experience of approaching mortality changed my perspective. I thought I deserved more, and I wasn't grateful for all the great shit that had happened to me. After overcoming the brain tumor, I appreciated acting, and being able to do it again ”.

2- Hugh Jackman

Hugh Jackman has been one of the most notorious cases of cancer in recent years. Not because of his suffering, but also because of the awareness campaign that he led through his social networks about the correct protection of the skin.

Wolverine's interpreter was found to have a carcinoma on his nose in 2013. Since then, he undergoes check-ups every three months. The cause of his cancer, as he explained, was not applying sunscreen at any point in his childhood.

3- Diahann Carroll

When the famous American actress discovered she had cancer, she underwent a lipectomy and a total of 36 radiation sessions, managing to overcome it.

Since then, his struggle to raise awareness among the population has been maximum. She urges menopausal women to get constant tests, in addition to having published in 2008 the book about her experience The Legs Are the Last to Go: Aging, Acting, Marrying & Other Things I Learned the Hard Way.

4- Edie Falco

Edie Falco developed breast cancer while playing Carmela on The Sopranos. In an act of courage and out of respect for the series, she was interspersing chemotherapy and trials.

As he explains, “in 2004, I realized that cancer was not going to kill me. Surviving cancer gives you a new perspective on what priorities are. I was forty years old and single, so I decided to start an adoption process.

5- Lance Armstrong

Probably the most talked about cancer case in the world of sports. It was a mirror in which to reflect for the sick.

He was diagnosed with testicular cancer in October 1996 that had spread to different parts of his body, something that he endured with effective chemotherapy that saved him a year later.

In addition, since then it has participated in important awareness campaigns.

6- Michael C. Hall

Dexter's lead actor publicly claimed in 2010 to have suffered from cancer. Luckily, by then he was already remitting, a piece of news that helped him to return to the recording of his fetish series and to delight his followers.

7- Cynthia Nixon

The former actress of Sex and the City revealed in 2008 that she had suffered from breast cancer just two years ago.

To overcome this, he underwent a lumpectomy and subsequently a six-week therapy during which he was going to different chemotherapy and radiation sessions.

8- Kathy Bates

The famous Hollywood actress had to overcome ovarian cancer in 2003 and then breast cancer in 2012. “Breast cancer runs like a river through my family. My mother and my niece had; and my aunt died of it, "he said.

The solution to this was to have a double mastectomy. Likewise, it has already publicly stated that these cases should be made public in order to raise awareness among the population.

12- Jaclyn Smith

The old model and sexual icon of the seventies, was not spared the terrible disease.

In 2002, "Charlie's Angel" discovered a lump on one of her breasts during a routine exam. The solution he decided to put to this was a mastectomy to be given radiation later.

13- Michael Douglas

Diagnosed with tongue cancer, Michael Douglas continues to fight the disease.

At first he lied, stating that it was throat cancer, due to the fact of a possible surgical intervention where he would lose part of his jaw and tongue.

During the last months he has been very weakened, and the actor himself has already affirmed that the cause was oral sex.

14- Melanie Griffith

The ex-wife of Antonio Banderas had to go through one of the least common cancers known to date.

Melanie had thin layers of skin under her eye removed due to skin cancer. The operation was a great success and she was able to get ahead because the disease was in a very early stage of development.

15- Sofia Vergara

The protagonist of Modern Family suffered thyroid cancer at the young age of 28.

Sofía claims that at the time it became totally traumatic for her. Once she got over cancer, she was able to become one of the most famous actresses in the entire United States.

Famous people who couldn't get over it

1- Steve Jobs

Jobs, the creator of the well-known Apple brand died in 2011 due to pancreatic cancer.

His constant efforts to try to overcome the disease caused him to delay it for almost ten years. Finally, the genius of technology left this world at the young age of 56.

His last photo went around the world, where he was seen in a wheelchair accompanied by his relatives and visibly affected by the disease.

2- Luciano Pavarotti

Unfortunately, this evil also took one of the best opera singers of all time. The tenor, who died in September 2007 at the age of 71, had been diagnosed years earlier with pancreatic cancer.

His doctor at the time, Antonil Frassoldati, stated the following: "He was always fully aware of the situation and always wanted to fight the disease: he was very serene."

3- George Harrison

On November 29, 2001, a multiple cancer made one of the members of The Beatles leave this world.

George Harrison was diagnosed as terminal just five days before his death. But before that, he was able to say goodbye in peace to both his family and Paul and Ringo.

Two of his songs, "More than a woman" and "My Sweet Lord", reached number 1 on the charts after his passing.

4- Bob Marley

Marley, the greatest reggae musician the world has ever seen, also succumbed to cancer. After having noticed a melanoma on the thumb of his right foot, the Jamaican decided to go ahead with his concerts, ignoring the problem.

By age three, the cancer had spread throughout her body. Given this, Bob could only hold out for eight more months. The musical icon died on May 11, 1981 at the age of 36.

5- Patrick Swayze

The well-known actor known for his important roles in Ghost or Dirty Dancing has been battling cancer for a long time.

Unfortunately, he died in 2009 at just 57 years old. The photos of his appearance during his last months of life were made quite viral due to his deteriorating physique.

6- Alec Guinness

Alec Guinness was one of the benchmark actors of the 20th century. The Oscar-winning actor for The Bridge on the River Kwaii died at the age of 86 on August 5, 2000.

He died at the King Edward VII Hospital in Midhurst (Great Britain) after being admitted for a series of ailments due to liver cancer.

The funny thing about his death is that the actor decided to keep it a secret and not even tell his family or friends. The British left behind him nothing more and nothing less than fifty recorded films.

7- HP Lovecraft

The intestinal cancer that HP Lovecraft developed over the years took him to unsuspected points.

His famously unhealthy nature made the effects of his illness remarkably acute. He was sensitive to temperatures below twenty degrees, suffered from malnutrition and kidney failure among other ailments.

In this way, the famous writer died at the age of 47 in 1937 at the Jane Brown Memorial Hospital in Providence (United States).

8- Johan Cruyff

One of the most notorious cancer diseases in recent times due to the impact of this personality from the world of football.

The famous ex-player and ex-coach of Futbol Club Barcelona went down in history as one of the best on the field. In addition, it was a benchmark in awareness campaigns about how harmful tobacco is.

In 1991 he underwent open heart surgery after suffering coronary insufficiency, something that forced him to quit smoking. But that was not enough, since in 2015 he developed lung cancer that would take his life just a few months later.

9- Tito Vilanova

Returning to the world of football, the also former Barcelona coach died of this terrible disease.

The Catalan was directing the culé team from the bench during 2012, but the following season he was forced to leave it to later die on April 25, 2013. The cause would be a gland cancer against which he had been fighting for several years.

Tito Vilanova received tributes from all the professionals in the world of football.

10- David Bowie

Without a doubt, the death of David Bowie was a major shock to the music world.

The rock star passed away in early 2016 due to cancer, and just three days after he released his last album, Blackstar, which curiously also coincided with his 69th birthday.

This is how his official accounts announced his death: "David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family, after a brave 18-month fight against cancer."