Ronnie Wood, while in lockdown, beats cancer for the second time
The Rolling Stones guitarist, who was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2017, battled small-cell cancer more recently.
Photo: Michael Loccisano / Getty
Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood has revealed he’s quietly beaten cancer a second time, this time while he was in lockdown.
The 73-year-old musician opened up on his diagnosis while speaking exclusively to The Sun on Sunday (25 April).
“I’ve had cancer two different ways now,” he said. “I had lung cancer in 2017 and I had small-cell more recently that I fought in the last lockdown.”
Wood reported receiving the “all-clear” for his second brush with cancer. He attributed the lessons he picked up in rehab – which he’s checked himself into eight times for alcohol and drug abuse – for helping him through his most recent bout with the disease.
“I’m going through a lot of problems now, but throughout my recovery, you have to let it go. And when you hand the outcome over to your higher power, that is a magic thing,” he said.
“That brings you back to the Serenity Prayer [widely adopted by the Alcoholics and Narcotics Anonymous]: ‘Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change’. That’s incredible. What will be will be, it’s nothing to do with me.”
In other Rolling Stones news, new music from the legendary rock ’n’ roll outfit could be on the way, according to a social media update from guitarist Keith Richards.
“About last night! New music on the horizon!” the guitarist tweeted in February, who also shared a picture of himself playing a vintage hollow-body Höfner bass guitar.