Earlier this year, Steve McQueen disclosed that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer two years before.
In an interview with Deadline, the director said that he was notified of a tiny tumor on his prostate during a regular examination that took place while he was working on his most recent production, Blitz.
After undergoing surgery to remove a malignant tumor, the director of the film 12 Years a Slave is now “fully recovered and fully functional.” During the time when the production was taking place, he “deviated the shoot by two weeks and then underwent the procedure.”
He claimed that he did not disclose his condition to the cast and crew of Blitz because he did not want to “concern” them. The filmmaker, who won an Academy Award, is 55 years old. When asked about his activities, he said, “I was just doing stuff in bed on the computer — working, emailing, and whatever else.” He went on to say that he “kept it private at that stage.”
In 2006, McQueen’s father passed away as a result of prostate cancer, and McQueen has since started a new campaign for the research of prostate cancer. Since he has a history of cancer in his family and was diagnosed with the disease himself, he is encouraging other men, particularly Black males, to get early cancer tests.
“You could say that my dad saved my life because, unfortunately, he passed away of it,” he said to the source. “In some ways, you could say you saved my life.”
According to what he had to say, “I knew that if it did come my way, if I did get it, it could be dealt with in an extremely effective way, and that would be the end of it.” Noting that other males “are being left to their own devices to navigate this on their own,” the author makes this observation.
Because he “really just wanted to get on with the job,” he went back to the set when he had sufficiently recovered from his injury. “And that’s kind of like who I am,” she continued stating. ‘Get on with it’ is the type of person I am.
Cancer of the prostate is the second most prevalent kind of cancer seen in males in the United States. More than eight out of every eight males in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society. This percentage is one in six for males of African descent. Additionally, according to CNN, the risk of dying from prostate cancer is twice as high for black males as it is for white men.
According to McQueen, “one in twelve Black men will become a victim of prostate cancer.” As a result, I focused on preventing it from happening. In that regard, the fact that I had been preparing for the circumstance for a number of years was, once again, my savior. Therefore, you should simply purchase it early and preempt it.
According to McQueen, “the tragedy of this is that no one has to die as a result of it.” Indeed, it is the tragedy.
He has also shown his advocacy via the medium of film. A short video titled “Embarrassed” was published by him in 2021 with the purpose of bringing attention to the issue of prostate cancer in the Black community. The film included a number of well-known actors, including Morgan Freeman and Idris Elba.
In addition to that, he went ahead and shot a brand new short video for the Proactive for Your Prostrate campaign, which featured David Harewood.