A new book has disclosed the lengths David Bowie went to hide his terminal illness from the world – and claimed he almost died a few years before his 2016 death.
The iconic “Ziggy Stardust” singer died aged 69 in January 2026 following a secret fight with cancer, and 10 years on, insiders are recalling their surprise at learning the news while making a new record and stage play with him just months before.
According to biography Lazarus: The Second Coming of David Bowie, the singer is believed to have been diagnosed with liver cancer in 2014 and been told it was inoperable in November 2015.
Bowie’s diagnosis inspired his final record, Blackstar, and accompanying stage production, Lazarus – and the singer remained tight-lipped about his situation, only telling those whom it directly impacted.
One such person was Lazarus director Ivo van Hove, who said that while “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”.
”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 added in a new memoir extract published in The Telegraph.
Playwright Enda Walsh, with whom Bowie wrote Lazarus, said the singer hid his diagnosis well, stating that in the summer of 2014, he “seemed completely fine and in great shape”.
However, shortly before this, drummer Zachary Alford, who Bowie hired to work on four new demos, claimed he noticed “a weight on his shoulders”, saying: “He was getting close to the end, but I still had no clue he was sick.”
When he recorded tracks for his final album Blackstar the following year, many did not realise the musician was sick, despite the fact he was undergoing chemotherapy. He hid his bald head with a cap.
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“I was the only one in the room that had no idea that he was sick,” jazz guitarist Ben Monder said. “I thought he looked great. I thought this guy was super-healthy for someone who had had a heart attack 10 years prior.”
The few people Bowie did disclose his sickness to included director Johan Renck as the singer was unsure he’d be able to film the music video for “Blackstar”. According to Renck, Bowie told him in November 2014: “I’m very ill and I’m probably going to die.”
Bowie also informed key figures working on Lazarus during a Skype call as it became impossible to hide the news.
“He was on Skype and he was clearly sick,” van Hove said. “Then he told us. I was blown away. I don’t think I uttered two words because it was totally unexpected. But did it influence the work? No. Because I felt from the first time I met him that this project was for him very urgent and very important.”
The biography also reiterates a point made by Bowie biographer Wendy Leigh in 2014 – that Bowie had six heart attacks before his death.
“Physically, he didn’t just battle cancer – if that’s not enough, he had six heart attacks in recent years,” she told the BBC at the time, claiming she learnt this fact “from somebody very close to him”.
The new biography claims an anonymous member of Bowie’s circle confirmed that he had health problems “for the last 10 years before he died, and those problems were quite severe at times”.
It’s claimed the singer “was lucky to survive” one incident a few years before his death”.
Lazarus: The Second Coming of David Bowie is out 1 January. Find another extract from the book on The Independent on Tuesday (30 December).
