Celebrities live so much of their life in the spotlight, it makes sense that they'd want to keep some things to themselves — especially when it comes to their health. It's actually not unusual for celebrities to keep medical issues private while they're undergoing treatments. Sometimes they still don't tell the public even after they've recovered. And other celebrities hold onto that privacy so long that we only discover the true magnitude of their health issues after they've already died.
Just because they're famous doesn't mean that celebs owe us details about every moment of their lives. HIPAA exists for a reason — everybody has a right to keep their medical information private. And although many of these celebrities eventually felt comfortable enough to go public with their various diagnoses, it's also OK if they never felt like opening up. Medical struggles are hard enough without the whole world watching.
Read on to learn about 20 celebs who kept their health issues private for as long as they could.
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Kate Middleton
Kate Middleton wanted to heal in peace after undergoing abdominal surgery in January of 2024, but the public refused to let that happen. Wild conspiracy theories about the princess' condition circulated on social media until Kate was pretty much forced to show her face. In a March video update, she revealed that she'd been diagnosed with cancer and was undergoing treatment.
She said it had taken a while to explain the situation to her children, which was the reason for her months of silence.
Queen Elizabeth
Kate Middleton's not the only royal to have wanted privacy during a medical ordeal. The late Queen Elizabeth kept her own health issues notoriously private. It wasn't until after her death in 2022 that the biography Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait revealed that she'd reportedly been dealing with bone marrow cancer.
Wendy Williams
Fans had been worried about TV host Wendy Williams for a few years since she took a leave of absence from The Wendy Williams show, and the series was eventually cancelled in 2022. Answers finally came in the 2024 documentary Where is Wendy Williams? that chronicled her declining health. Wendy was diagnosed with aphasia and frontotemporal dementia, a neurodegenerative disease.
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Bindi Irwin
Crocodile hunter Steve Irwin's daughter faced a battle with endometriosis privately for a decade before she went public with it. Her secrecy was in part because she also didn't understand what was wrong with her. "I was tested for everything. Every tropical disease, Lyme disease, cancer, you name it. I had every blood test and scan imaginable," she told People.
In 2022, she finally had surgery to determine her diagnosis and treat it. Since recovering, she's been a staunch public advocate for women's health.
Ben Stiller
Ben waited two years to tell the public that he'd been diagnosed with prostate cancer. On The Howard Stern Show in 2016, the actor revealed that he'd undergone surgery and was now ready to speak out to help others.
Ben found out about his cancer because he'd received an early-detection PSA (prostate-specific antigen) test. Testing typically begins at age 50, but Ben found his cancer at 48, giving him key time to take care of things before they worsened.
Cobie Smulders
The How I Met Your Mother star privately dealt with an ovarian cancer diagnosis in 2007 when she was 25. She kept her fight a secret for years. "For me at the time, I just wanted to deal with it on my own and with my family," she told People magazine in 2018. "I wasn't interested in sharing it with anybody."
She's been in remission for over a decade.
Emilia Clarke
Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke could have died after the first season because of a brain aneurysm. It required surgery that left her briefly unable to remember even her own name, let alone her lines. A second, more invasive aneurysm threatened her life again in 2013. But even after she'd recovered twice, she kept her ordeal private from the public.
"I told my bosses at Thrones about my condition, but I didn’t want it to be a subject of public discussion and dissection. The show must go on!" she wrote in a 2019 essay for The New Yorker where she finally revealed everything.
Michael C. Hall
The actor was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma during the filming of Dexter season four, according to The Guardian. He continued filming as normal, keeping his condition a secret from fans and people on set. When the season was completed, he began his chemotherapy and initially planned to keep that private.
"I thought, 'Well, I can treat this successfully and if my hair falls out … I'll wear a wig during the fifth season – and I won't even have to share with anyone that this is happening," he told The Guardian. "But I thought it would be conspicuous if I showed up [at awards shows] without eyebrows, and so I made an announcement.
Avril Lavigne
In 2015, the singer opened up to People magazine about stepping away from her career for five months while recovering from Lyme disease. But even though she said at the time that she was feeling "80 percent better," it took her another three years to fully explain how bad the experience had been.
"I was in bed for [expletive] two years," she told Billboard in 2018. "I had accepted that I was dying."
Fortunately her condition did improve with time, and now Avril has a foundation raising awareness about Lyme disease and how to fight it.
Selena Gomez
When Selena Gomez abruptly cancelled her music tour in 2013, rumors swirled that she was going to rehab. Two years later, she told Billboard that she'd actually gone into treatment for the autoimmune disease lupus.
"I wanted so badly to say, 'You guys have no idea. I'm in chemotherapy,'" she recalled of not addressing the rumors at the time. "But I was angry I even felt the need to say that … I locked myself away until I was confident and comfortable again."
Kathy Bates
When Kathy was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, she kept it a secret until she was more than five years into remission. According to ABC News, the actor alleged that she'd been told to hide it so she could keep working.
"I was contracted to go into a movie at that time, Little Black Book," she said on Anderson Cooper's show Anderson, per ABC News. "My doctors at the time, they had to get insurance approval and all of that so I was very quiet about it and had to go back to work right away."
Candice Bergen
In 2012, Boston Legal actor Candice Bergen admitted to New York magazine that she'd experienced a minor stroke six years prior. She was hesitant to mention it even years later. "I just don't want it to be a liability," she said, adding that ever since her memory is "not quite the same."
Willie Garson
Not only did Willie Garson keep his fans in the dark about his battle with cancer — he also kept some of his Sex and the City costars in the dark as well. According to People magazine, only Sarah Jessica Parker knew about Willie's pancreatic cancer while filming the SATC revival And Just Like That… until things got so bad that the production needed to be told. Willie died in 2021.
Robin Williams
The comedy legend died by suicide in 2014, and it was revealed afterward that he'd been struggling with a recent Parkinson's diagnosis. According to CNN, he was misdiagnosed with Parkinson's and an autopsy found that he actually had Lewy body dementia.
CNN reported that his widow, Susan Schneider Williams, found the true diagnosis a relief because it helped give her some closure and answers. "Robin wasn't crazy. That was one of his biggest fears," she said.
Note: If you or any of your loved ones are struggling with suicidal thoughts, you can always reach out to the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling 988. They are available 24/7 by phone or online chat.
Freddie Mercury
Although many people speculated that the Queen singer had withdrawn from the public eye due to an AIDS diagnosis, Freddie Mercury refused to confirm the rumors for years. According to the Mirror, he finally acknowledged his diagnosis only a day before he died in 1991.
"I felt it correct to keep this information private in order to protect the privacy of those around me," he shared in his statement. "However, the time has now come for my friends and fans around the world to know the truth, and I hope everyone will join with me, my doctors and all those worldwide in the fight against this terrible disease."
Alan Rickman
When the Harry Potter actor died in 2016, fans were shocked to learn that he'd been battling cancer in secret for years. According to The Guardian, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2004 and later pancreatic cancer shortly before his death.
His diaries revealed why he kept acting despite his declining health. "See it through. It's your story," he wrote in January 2006 about the fifth Harry Potter movie, per The Guardian.
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David Bowie
David Bowie's death in 2016 came as a shock to his many fans, but the musician had been sick for a while. According to the BBC, he'd been fighting cancer for a year and a half when he died at age 69. Shortly before his death, he released his final album Blackstar as a "parting gift" to his fans, the BBC reported.
Chadwick Boseman
Black Panther fans were shocked to learn in 2020 that actor Chadwick Boseman had died after a battle with cancer. The actor's Instagram account posted the tragic news, confirming that he'd secretly been diagnosed with stage three colon cancer in 2016. He privately underwent cancer treatments while filming some of his most notable roles such as Marshall and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.
Kelly Preston
People learned about Kelly Preston's death when her husband John Travolta posted about it on Instagram in 2020. In the post, he revealed that Kelly had been privately battling breast cancer for two years. "She fought a courageous fight," he wrote. "Kelly's love and life will always be remembered."
Gene Wilder
In his final years, the Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory actor dealt with Alzheimer’s disease, which eventually lead to his death in 2016. Nephew Jordan Walker-Pearlman told CNN that the actor had chosen to keep his diagnosis private so as not to disappoint anyone. "He simply couldn't bear the idea of one less smile in the world," his nephew said.
