Judas Priest's Rob Halford privately battled cancer during lockdown
Fortunately, the Metal God is now in remission
Last updated 18th Oct 2021
Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford has revealed he privately battled prostate cancer during lockdown last year.
The 70-year-old Metal God made the revelation in a recent interview with Heavy Consequence to promote the 50 Heavy Metal Years of Music box set, and Rob confirmed he’s currently in remission.
“I had my little cancer battle a year ago, which I got through and that’s in remission now, thank God,” Rob said.
“That happened while we were all locked down, so things happen for a reason as far as time sequence of events. I have nothing but gratitude to be at this point in my life, still doing what I love the most.”
Although he hasn’t spoken publicly about his cancer battle until now, Rob does mention it in the newly released and updated paperback edition of his 2020 memoir ‘Confess.’
Revealing that he had symptoms as far back as 2017, Rob writes: “How did I feel? I felt a combination of shock, horror, and oddly, relief — at least now I know!…’Am I going to die?’
“It was all I could think of. I know blokes who’ve died of prostate cancer. ‘No, you’re not going to die, Rob,’ said Dr. Ali.”
Admitting he was getting “mardy” and full of “anger” at his diagnosis, Rob said seeing a TV advert for the Phoenix Children’s hospital altered his mindset.
“It showed kids with cancer. Some only babies. They were lying there, with tubes coming out of them, fighting for their lives. They didn’t know what was going on,” Rob writes.
“It made me feel totally ashamed of myself; Rob, how dare you be so selfish? And from that second, I change my entire mental attitude towards my disease.”
Over the weekend, Rob Halford shared photos of himself throwing the sign of the horns hand gesture in hospital while receiving treatment:
Rob said he underwent successful prostatectomy surgery on 5th July 2021 and he’s currently in remission.
Listen to Judas Priest: 50 Heavy Metal Years on Planet Rock:
Last night, Phil Alexander hosted a special one-hour show on Planet Rock called Judas Priest: 50 Heavy Metal Years, which featured exclusive interviews with Rob Halford, Ian Hill and Richie Faulkner.
You can listen again to the show below, and it’s also on air again at 7pm on Wednesday 20th October.
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