Ian McKellen Has Prostate Cancer, Says It’s No Big Deal


Sir Ian McKellen has prostate cancer.

The award winning actor recently revealed in an interview with the Daily Mirror that he has been battling prostate cancer for “six or seven years.”

McKellen, 73, said:

“When you have got it you monitor it and you have to be careful it doesn’t spread. But if it is contained in the prostate, it’s no big deal … Many, many die from it, but it’s one of the cancers that is totally treatable so I have ‘wasteful watching.’ I am examined regularly and it’s just contained, it’s not spreading. I’ve not had any treatment.”

McKellen, who recently reprised his role as Gandalf in The Hobbit, said that he was very worried when he first learned about his diagnosis but is now confident with his health. McKellen said that the key is to continue getting tested.

McKellen said:

“You do gulp when you hear the news. It’s like when you go for an HIV test, you go ‘arghhh is this the end of the road?’ They come and say you have cancer of the prostate and then they say you can have it zapped, you can have it snipped but you are not a candidate for that. You are waitful watching. I have heard of people dying from prostate cancer, and they are the unlucky ones, the people who didn’t know they had got it and it went on the rampage. But at my age if it is diagnosed its not life threatening.”

The veteran actor also talked about how important it is to keep getting tested. McKellen said that he’s been dealing with the disease for the last seven years and continues to regularly get tested.

McKellen said:

“You are told what the situation is: you can have an operation but there is no point [in] me having an operation because there is no need for it. What they are concerned about is the cancer going to spread outside the prostate? If it doesn’t you are fine. How do you know if it is spreading? You keep being tested.”

Are you surprised that Ian McKellen has had prostate cancer for seven years?

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