Ex-Metallica bassist Jason Newsted reveals former cancer diagnosis: “I beat it”
Jason Newsted, who played bass in Metallica from 1986 to 2001, has revealed that he is “free and clear” of throat cancer, speaking about his diagnosis for the first time.
The 63-year-old appeared on the Let There Be Talk podcast, where he opened up publicly for the first time about his experience with cancer. Luckily, it was caught early by doctors.
As per Blabbermouth, the musician shared that on May 8th, it will be exactly a year since he “underwent a procedure for throat cancer”.
He continued, “And so they took a bunch of shit outta here and then they went in with lasers this way and took a bunch of shit out.”
Newsted added gratefully, “So the cavern inside my head is different than it was, but we got it early. And I got my ‘free and clear’ about three weeks ago. So I beat it.”
However, the diagnosis meant that he had to change the way he navigated through life. He went on, “I promised myself I was going to rest, and that was the first time I’ve done that in my life. I’m usually just on or off. And so I promised myself I was gonna take the gravity off and lay down for the right amount of hours.”
Therefore, the musician now feels “more clear-headed than I’ve ever been in my entire adult life”, mainly because he was forced to quit many of the habits he’d maintained throughout recent years.
He went on, “And there’s no way, with my arrogant, spoiled ass that I would’ve stopped smoking weed, that I would’ve stopped drinking, that I would’ve stopped doing all the things. But the great spirit got my attention and said, ‘That’s not good right now, man.’ And so it pulled me off it.”
In 2021, Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield revealed that Newsted was “the only member of Metallica who has ever left willingly,” a fact that “we weren’t equipped at the time to do a deep dive into”.
As for Metallica, they have been touring in full force, with a UK and European tour slated for later this year, as well as a special two-night stint in Uncasville to mark the Mohegan Sun Arena’s 25th anniversary.
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