Shocking the shock jock himself. Howard Stern revealed in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter that a cancer scare in 2017 terrified him.
Stern’s doctors had discovered a growth on his kidney, and the likelihood that it was cancerous was an astounding 90 percent.
“And now all I’m thinking is, ‘I’m going to die,’” he told THR. “And I’m scared s—tless.”
The self-proclaimed king of all media canceled his Howard Stern Show for a day to have the growth removed, not explaining the day off to his hordes of devoted listeners. (Only wife Beth Stern, his three daughters, partner in crime and cancer survivor Robin Quivers, and therapist knew about the potential cancer.) As it turned out, he was in the lucky 10 percent, and the growth was a non-cancerous cyst.
The terrifying experience is also what led him to pen his third book, Howard Stern Comes Again, which hits shelves May 14. But it also made the star, who makes a reported $90 million a year, question what he’s going to do with whatever time he does have left.
“It seems weird to me to not have this,” he said of potentially retiring and no longer doing his SiriusXM radio show. “To walk away from what I’m good at? I don’t even know that I have it 100 percent right yet. And maybe there’s more to explore …”
Stern, who in the past made headlines for his outrageous interviews and on-air antics, has already explored a new, softer version of himself and made a few changes to his interviewing tactics. And now, A-listers clamor to be on his show when they have something to promote, rather than shut down any interview request.
“You can only have so many strippers,” he told THR, noting that he did love diving into topics some people might consider disgusting. “Whatever it was, if it freaked you out, I loved it because to me, it was not a big deal. But now I find it gross. And I’d feel really f—king sh—ty if I hadn’t evolved. I’d be completely out of step with the times.”
As for those loyal listeners (and even some former show personalities) who want the old version of the shock jock and his crazy behavior back? He reminded THR, “I still have a really juvenile sense of humor.”
