According to a new book, David Bowie nearly passed away a few years before to his death in 2016 and went to great measures to conceal his grave condition from the public.
Ten years after the legendary “Ziggy Stardust” singer passed away at the age of 69 in January 2026 after a covert battle with cancer, insiders are remembering how shocked they were to hear the news while working with him on a new record and stage play just months prior.
The singer is thought to have received a liver cancer diagnosis in 2014 and been informed that it was incurable in November 2015, according to the biography Lazarus: The Second Coming of David Bowie.
Bowie’s diagnosis served as the impetus for both his last album, Blackstar, and the stage play that accompanied it, Lazarus. The singer kept his condition a secret, only disclosing it to those who were immediately affected.
Ivo van Hove, the director of Lazarus, was one such individual who claimed that although “no one from the cast knew anything because he only came when he was feeling well,” he “could see a heartbroken man in his eyes.”
In a recent memoir excerpt that was published in The Telegraph, van Hove continued, “I could see, when he looked at me, in his eyes there was really a troubled man, anxious about dying and also about leaving a family behind.”
The musician “seemed completely fine and in great shape” in the summer of 2014, according to playwright Enda Walsh, with whom Bowie co-wrote Lazarus.
Zachary Alford, the drummer Bowie hired to work on four new demos, said he saw “a weight on his shoulders” just prior to this, adding, “He was getting close to the end, but I still had no clue he was sick.”
Even though he was receiving chemotherapy, many were unaware that the musician was ill when he recorded songs for his last album, Blackstar, the following year. He wore a cap to conceal his bald head.
Jazz guitarist Ben Monder remarked, “I was the only person in the room that had no idea that he was sick.” In my opinion, he looked fantastic. For someone who had suffered a heart attack ten years earlier, I felt this man was incredibly healthy.
Director Johan Renck was one of the few individuals Bowie did tell about his illness since he wasn’t sure he would be able to shoot the music video for “Blackstar.” Renck claims that in November 2014, Bowie informed him, “I’m very ill and I’m probably going to die.”
When it became hard to keep the news a secret, Bowie also told important people involved in Lazarus over a Skype chat.
According to van Hove, “he was on Skype and he was obviously sick.” Then he informed us. I was astounded. Since it was completely unexpected, I don’t believe I said a single thing. Did it, however, affect the work? No. Because I sensed right away when I met him that this endeavour was really essential and urgent for him.
Additionally, the biography restates Wendy Leigh’s 2014 assertion that Bowie suffered six heart attacks prior to his passing.
She told the BBC at the time that she had discovered of this truth “from somebody very close to him.” “Physically, he didn’t just battle cancer – if that’s not enough, he had six heart attacks in recent years,” she said.
According to the new biography, Bowie had health issues “for the last 10 years before he died, and those problems were quite severe at times,” according to an unnamed member of his social circle.
