A revealing new biography has detailed the immense lengths music legend David Bowie went to in order to conceal his terminal diagnosis from the world, while also claiming he survived a severe health crisis just years before his passing.
The Secret Battle Behind the Final Curtain
David Bowie died at the age of 69 in January 2016, after a private fight with cancer that stunned colleagues and fans alike. A decade on, the biography Lazarus: The Second Coming of David Bowie discloses that the iconic 'Ziggy Stardust' singer was diagnosed with inoperable liver cancer in 2014 and received the grave prognosis in November 2015.
This diagnosis directly inspired his profound final album, Blackstar, and the accompanying stage production, Lazarus. Bowie maintained strict secrecy about his condition, confiding only in those it would directly affect. Ivo van Hove, director of Lazarus, noted that while the cast was unaware, he could perceive a 'heartbroken man' in Bowie's eyes.
"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," van Hove revealed in a memoir extract published by The Telegraph.
A Master of Disguise Amidst Treatment
Playwright Enda Walsh, Bowie's collaborator on Lazarus, stated that during the summer of 2014, the singer 'seemed completely fine and in great shape'. This facade was maintained with remarkable skill. When recording Blackstar in 2015 while undergoing chemotherapy, he hid his bald head with a cap, leaving many in the studio none the wiser.
Jazz guitarist Ben Monder, who worked on the album, admitted, "I was the only one in the room that had no idea that he was sick. I thought he looked great." The truth was shared only when absolutely necessary, such as during a Skype call with key Lazarus personnel where his illness became impossible to mask, and privately with music video director Johan Renck in November 2014, to whom Bowie confessed, "I'm very ill and I'm probably going to die."
'Lucky to Survive': The Earlier Health Ordeal
The biography also sheds light on Bowie's significant health struggles in the decade preceding his death, corroborating a claim made by biographer Wendy Leigh in 2014 that the singer had suffered six heart attacks. An anonymous member of Bowie's inner circle confirmed he faced 'quite severe' health problems throughout that period.
Most startlingly, the book asserts that Bowie 'was lucky to survive' a serious health incident occurring just a few years before his death from cancer, adding another layer of struggle to his final years.
Lazarus: The Second Coming of David Bowie is published on 1 January, with an extract available in The Independent.
