Celebs that hid scary cancer diagnoses

Michael Douglas

When Michael Douglas appeared on The David Letterman Show in 2010, he announced that he had throat cancer. Revealing to the host and audience alike that he was in treatment, the actor suggested that it was detected because he'd had a "really sore throat." While speaking with The Guardian three years later, Douglas got into more detail about the disease and how he may have gotten it: "Without wanting to get too specific, this particular cancer is caused by HPV [human papillomavirus], which actually comes about from cunnilingus."

However, this story changed once again a few years later. During a TV segment for Male Cancer Awareness Week, Douglas told Samuel L. Jackson that he'd actually been diagnosed with tongue cancer (via CNN). "The surgeon said, 'Let's just say it's throat cancer,'" he admitted, explaining that he chose to avoid the truth because the optics of tongue cancer aren't great. According to Douglas, the doctor warned him that if the cancer battle resulted in surgery, "It's not going to be pretty. You could lose part of your tongue and jaw." Thankfully, the treatments were a success and Douglas announced he was cancer-free back in 2011.