Yesterday, James Van Deer Beek, 47, announced that he was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. However, after his interview was released, he said it was not on his terms.
“It is cancer…”
Each year, approximately 2 billion people around the world receive this diagnosis. And I’m one of them. There’s no playbook for how announce these things, but I’d planned on talking about it at length with People magazine at some point soon… to raise awareness and tell my story on my own terms. But that plan had to be altered early this morning when I was informed that a tabloid was going to run with the news.
I’ve been dealing with this privately until now, getting treatment and dialing in my overall health with greater focus than ever before. I’m in a good place and feeling strong. It’s been quite the initiation, and I’ll tell you more when I’m ready.
Apologies to all the people in my life who I’d planned on telling myself. Nothing about this process has occurred on my preferred timeline… But we roll with it, taking each surprise as a signpost, pointing us toward a greater destiny than we would have discovered without divine intervention.
Please know that my family and I deeply appreciate all the love and support.
More to come…
I have always hated that tabloids have forced celebrities to reveal pregnancies coming out, illnesses and hospitalizations, splits, and so much more before they are ready. They are human and deserve the right to have some privacy on things like the above.
I was once given the scoop that an actor and his wife were having twins, but I opted not to go with it. It is not my story to tell. I am glad I did because I am now social media friends with that actor.
I continue to sit on stuff that is going on with my friends and even celebrities I don’t know. There are just some things that should be theirs to tell when they are ready.
Back to JVDB. I have a feeling we will find out more about his cancer diagnosis when The Real Full Monty airs Decembber 9th on Fox. The special finds him and other male celebrities baring all to raise awareness for prostate, testicular and colorectal cancer testing and research.
