Julian Lennon has revealed that he’s awaiting test results from a biopsy, almost five years after he went public with a “cancer scare.”
The musician and photographer, who is the eldest son of late Beatles legend John Lennon, revealed in a Facebook post back in February 2020 that a mole he’d had on his head his entire life was removed after a biopsy revealed it had turned cancerous.
During an appearance on podcast The Joe Rogan Experience this week, Lennon, 61, revealed that his past experience prompted him to recently seek medical advice regarding a complaint with the skin on one of his arms.
As the podcast started, host Joe Rogan asked Lennon about his arm, prompting him to explain that he went to see a dermatologist. Pointing to his arm, he said: “[I have] a little excision here, because it had been bothering me a bit.”
Lennon added that the dermatologist “just did a little cutting, and no doubt, I’ll hear from her in a few days, once she gets the results.”
Newsweek has contacted representatives of Lennon via email for comment.
During the podcast, Lennon also gave a rundown on his past health issues. “A couple of years ago, I had a bit of a cancer scare on my head,” he said. “I have a birthmark here [on my head] that you don’t really see, and there was a mole.
“As my hair got a little thinner, I would use a comb, and it caught it one time, and it opened it up. And so I kind of kept picking at it when it became a scab, and I kept picking over the course of like, six months. And then I went to see this dermatologist for the first time in L.A.”
Lennon recalled how he told the dermatologist that he was “a bit worried about” the scab, given the several months that had passed.
Colby Tallia/amfAR/amfAR via Getty Images;/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
“She cut it out and sent it off,” he said. “I was at a pretty serious meeting with a whole bunch of people, and she called me up at the end of it and said, ‘Listen, I’m sorry to tell you this, but it’s cancerous, you know, we’ve got to cut it out. We’ve got to get it.'”
“I just went completely numb at that point and freaked out, because I just thought, what does this mean in the bigger picture?” Lennon went on. “I know a lot of friends that have passed from cancer of various kinds over the years. And so it really did freak me out.”
After getting the “all clear,” Lennon has exercised caution. “Anything that just looks or feels a little odd [I address],” he told Rogan.
“That’s scary,” Rogan told his guest, “because it was in a spot that you don’t check. You know, it’s covered in hair. You don’t know what’s going on back there.”
“I got one of those comprehensive blood panel screens for cancer recently, and then, you know, you wait a while for the results,” Rogan added, before sharing that he wondered, “What if I’m one of those people [to be diagnosed with cancer]?”
“I go for the proper checkup, like twice a year, on every front,” Lennon interjected, “just to make sure I’m going to be around. Because I like living. I want to be around for a long time.”
Lennon is the son of legendary musician John Lennon and his first wife, Cynthia Powell. Julian Lennon has a younger half brother, Sean Lennon, from his father’s marriage to Yoko Ono.