Steve McQueen revealed that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer two years ago.
During a routine check while the director was working on his latest project, Blitzhe was informed that he had a small tumor on his prostate, he said Deadline.
The 12 years of slavery the director underwent surgery to remove a cancerous tumor and is now “fully recovered and fully functional”. At the time of production, he “postponed filming for two weeks and then had a procedure.”
The Oscar-winning director, 55, explained not to “worry”. Blitz cast and crew, he kept his diagnosis a secret. “I was just doing things in bed on the computer – working, emailing and whatever,” he said, adding that he “kept everything private at that stage.”
After recovering, he returned to the set because he “really just wanted to get on with the job.” Adding, “And that’s pretty much who I am. I’m a ‘get on with it’ kind of person.”
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McQueen, whose father died of prostate cancer in 2006, has launched a new campaign for prostate cancer research. As a result of his family history and diagnosis, he urges other men, especially black men, to get screened for cancer early.
“In a way, you could say that my dad saved my life because, unfortunately, he died from it,” he told the newspaper.
“I knew that if it happened to me, if I got it, it could be dealt with in an extremely effective way, and that was the end of it,” he said. Noting that other men are “left to their own devices to sort this out.”
Steve McQueen on October 15, 2020 in Rome, Italy.
Elisabetta Villa/Getty
Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer among American men. More than one in eight American men, according to the American Cancer Society. For blacks, that number is one in six. Black men are also twice as likely to die from prostate cancer as white men, CNN reported.
“One in 12 black men will die of prostate cancer,” McQueen said. “So for me it was about getting ahead of it. The fact that I got ahead of the situation for years was, again, my savior in that way. So just get ahead of it and go early.”
“The tragedy of this is that no one has to die from it,” McQueen added. “That’s the tragedy.”
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He also transferred his activism to the screen. In 2021, he released a short film, Embarrassedto raise awareness of prostate cancer in the black community. The film starred Idris Elba, Morgan Freeman and other stars.
He also made a new short film for the Proactive for Your Prostrate campaign with David Harewood.
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Blitz is now in select theaters and debuts globally on November 22nd on Apple TV+.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education