During a new interview on Dean Delray’s podcast “Let There Be Talk,” former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted revealed that he had been diagnosed with throat cancer in May 2025. He also shared some positive news: after nearly a year of treatment, he has been given the all clear.
“So I will talk about this a little bit,” Newsted said (as transcribed by Blabbermouth). “I decided that this week, as I’m beginning to roll out the promotion for the shows and stuff and let everybody know I’m gonna be back around, and you already know it — you’re, probably, in the 24 people that I told.
“So, let’s see — in one week, it’s gonna be a year. So one week from today, it’ll be a year. May 8th of 2025, I underwent a procedure for throat cancer. And so they took a bunch of sh*t outta here and then they went in with lasers this way and took a bunch of sh*t out. So the cavern inside my head is different than it was, but we got it early. And I got my ‘free and clear’ about three weeks ago. So I beat it.”
He continued: “I promised myself I was going to rest, and that was the first time I’ve done that in my life. I’m usually just on or off. And so I promised myself I was gonna take the gravity off and lay down for the right amount of hours. And there’s no way, with my arrogant, spoiled ass that I would’ve stopped smoking weed, that I would’ve stopped drinking, that I would’ve stopped doing all the things. But the great spirit got my attention and said, ‘That’s not good right now, man.’
“And so it pulled me off it. And so now I’m more clear-headed than I’ve been in my entire adult life. And so there’s blessings within everything. The lemonade I’m making this summer, bro — mm. Sweet. Ooh.”
Newsted recently announced his first-ever North American headline tour with his group The Chophouse Band, set to kick off this summer.
