Spandau Ballet icon and beloved EastEnders actor Martin Kemp has bravely revealed the depths of terror he experienced during his harrowing health battle, confessing he was "so scared of dying" that he made peace with his own mortality.
In a profoundly candid and emotional new interview, the 62-year-old star opens up about the devastating period in the 1990s when he was diagnosed with not one, but two brain tumours. The ordeal forced him to confront his deepest fears and left a permanent mark on his perspective on life.
A Decade-Long Shadow of Fear
Kemp first received his shocking diagnosis over thirty years ago, yet the memory remains vividly traumatic. The actor detailed how the initial tumour was successfully treated with radiotherapy, offering a glimmer of hope. However, that hope was cruelly shattered when a second, more aggressive tumour was discovered just two years later.
"The first one, they gave me radiotherapy and it shrank it away," Kemp explained. But the second diagnosis presented a far graver challenge, requiring a complex and risky five-hour surgery to remove it. The experience, he admits, was utterly terrifying.
Making Peace with the Inevitable
Faced with his own mortality, Kemp described undergoing a radical psychological shift. So intense was his fear of dying that he consciously decided to accept death itself to rid himself of the anguish.
"I was so scared of dying that I had to turn it around in my head and almost be OK with it to get rid of the fear," he revealed. This profound acceptance, he believes, ultimately became his psychological armour, allowing him to endure the immense pressure and uncertainty of his treatment and recovery.
The legacy of his health battle is a man fundamentally changed. Martin Kemp now views every day after the age of 30 as a precious gift—a second life that he never expected to have. His story is a powerful testament to resilience and the human capacity to find strength in the face of unimaginable adversity.
