The legendary David Bowie, who died more than four years ago, hid his illness from the public for a long time, writes the British "The Sun".
He revealed the diagnosis only to his closest family members and some friends.
"One day he took me aside and said that soon he will not be able to come to see how everything is progressing because of his illness. He revealed to me that he had liver cancer," said director Ivo van Hou, with whom Bowie had a very good relationship, reports Headliner.
Producer Tony Visconti, who worked with Bowie on his last album, said chemotherapy caused him to lose his hair and eyebrows. In mid-2015, Bowie thought he had beaten the disease and that the cancer was in remission, but at the end of the same year, he received bad news again and learned that he didn't have much time left.
The public had no idea of his condition.
"The media wrote that he looks great, very healthy, but he once collapsed from exhaustion behind the stage. That's when I realized it might be the last time I see him,'' Hou said.
The influential singer, songwriter and producer experimented with glam rock, art rock, soul, hard rock, dance music, pop, punk and electronica during a career that spanned more than 40 years.
Bowie's artistic breakthrough came in 1972 with the album "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars", which presented the star as an alien.
Fusing British and Japanese influences and rock with theatrics, Bowie created the colorful androgynous alter ego of Ziggy Stardust.
Three years later, he achieved his first major success in America with the single "Fame". Among his memorable songs were "Let's Dance" from 1983, "Space Oddity", "Heroes", "Changes", "Under Pressure", "China Girl", "Modern Love", "Rebel, Rebel", "All the Young Dudes", "Panic in Detroit", "Fashion", "Life on Mars", "Suffragette City"...
Bowie died in January 2016 after an 18-month battle with the disease. He was married to Iman Abdulmajid, a former model, born in Somalia, with whom he had a daughter, Alexandria Zahra. He has a son, Duncan Jones, with former model and journalist Angie Barnett.
When he was diagnosed with cancer, he started working on the last album, "Blackstar", a sort of farewell to the world. Although he was completely exhausted from chemotherapy, he managed to finish it, just like the musical "Lazarus", for which he wrote the music.
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