Celebs Who Kept Their Major Surgeries A Secret

Every human should be entitled to privacy, but that fact is often forgotten when it comes to celebrities. The expectation is that they must share all of their personal details with the world, and if they do not, the tabloids will do it for them.

Health matters are one of the only areas that can at times be kept under wraps, no doubt because HIPAA laws protect people from their medical information being released without their consent. Unless a celebrity has a rat within their orbit, telling only a trustworthy inner circle about a health problem or surgery can prevent leaks to the media. This is a strategy many celebrities have used when faced with serious medical issues requiring surgery, as it allows them to recover before having to field questions about the ordeal.

Some celebrities have little concern for privacy, and it's not uncommon for stars to post snaps from the hospital either directly before or after surgery. Kate Micucci, Doja Cat, and Paulina Porizkova are three examples of this new trend. Other stars, like Lindsey Vonn and Kathy Griffin, have even announced their upcoming surgeries well before entering the hospital. But more commonly, stars try to keep things quiet until they are in the clear — and sometimes for months, years, or even decades beyond that.

Fans were gutted when gifted actor Chadwick Boseman died in 2020 after a years-long fight against colon cancer. Although he was only 43 years old at the time of his passing, the actor had already become an integral part of cinema history, playing historic roles like Jackie Robinson in "42" and the iconic titular superhero in "Black Panther."

Boseman's death hit many people especially hard because the incredibly private actor kept his condition a secret, which meant the public had no time to mentally prepare for the loss. He was diagnosed with stage III colon cancer in 2016, but kept the news private at the suggestion of his mother. Even friends were unaware of his diagnosis since he attributed his shrinking frame to his vegetarianism and exercise. 

Behind the scenes, Boseman was undergoing treatment for his disease as he worked on building his career. "A true fighter, Chadwick persevered through it all, and brought you many of the films you have come to love so much," his family said in the statement announcing his death. "From 'Marshall' to 'Da 5 Bloods,' August Wilson's 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom' and several more, all were filmed during and between countless surgeries and chemotherapy." The actor received many posthumous accolades for his work in "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom," including an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe win, as well as a Primetime Emmy for voicing T'Challah in Marvel's "What If...?"

Actor Emilia Clarke chose to write a poignant essay for The New Yorker in 2019 detailing the two difficult surgeries she underwent for brain aneurysms. These surgeries saved her life, but Clarke kept them a secret for years for fear of the news affecting her career. Though she second-guessed her choice two weeks before the essay went to press, Clarke eventually decided to move forward.

"I knew that I had to tell this story because I wanted people who are suffering from it to know that this is also what brain injury looks like, and that you can do it," she told Extra. "I wanted people to not feel alone if they did. I knew it was my duty, but it's hard."

In 2011, just after wrapping filming for the first season of "Game of Thrones," Clarke was rushed to the hospital after falling violently ill mid-workout. She had experienced a subarachnoid hemorrhage, which is so serious that a third of people die from it, and underwent immediate surgery to avoid a possibly fatal second bleed. While in the hospital, Clarke learned of another bleed on the other side of her brain. It doubled in size by the time she went under the knife for it in 2013, in a surgery that failed and left her in need of a third, more invasive one through her skull. "I spent a month in the hospital again and, at certain points, I lost all hope," she wrote.

Everyone knows about Selena Gomez's kidney transplant and the fact that her donor was her then-bestie, actor Francia Raisa. But Gomez, who has been very open about her health since being diagnosed with lupus in 2015, kept the surgery a total secret until she recovered — to the point where fans became suspicious that something was amiss.

"I'm very aware some of my fans had noticed I was laying low for part of the summer and questioning why I wasn't promoting my new music, which I was extremely proud of," Gomez wrote in her 2017 Instagram message, alongside photos from the hospital and of her scar. "So I found out I needed to get a kidney transplant due to my Lupus and was recovering. It was what I needed to do for my overall health." She expressed a desire to share more with fans in the future but provided minimal details.

Gomez's initial announcement also expressed thanks, especially for Raisa, a fellow actor whom she befriended in 2007 when they were both teen TV stars. The pair remained friends after the 2017 transplant, even getting matching tattoos in 2019, but they hit a rocky patch a few years later. While eagle-eyed fans noticed when Raisa unfollowed Gomez, both women have since confirmed they remain friends. "Sometimes, I feel people need to spend time apart in order to grow," Raisa told Extra in 2023. "Just for the record, it had nothing to do with the kidney."

Most of the surgeries on this list occurred after the star was already famous, or at least when they were on their way up the Hollywood food chain. This one, however, relates to a childhood surgery that Jamie Kennedy decided not to share when he was an up-and-coming actor. The comedian became famous in 1996 thanks to the iconic horror film, "Scream," and he followed that up with a series of projects, such as "Clockwatchers" and "Starstruck." He has since had a couple of hits and a few less successful movies — "Son of the Mask" even earned him two Razzie nominations – but Kennedy has remained a recognizable character actor and public figure for decades.

Kennedy was 45 when he went on "The Doctors" in 2016 to reveal that he had a pacemaker, but the congenital heart block he discussed had been a part of his life since he was 10 years old. The disease — which interferes with the conduction necessary for regular, rhythmic heart activity to occur – can vary in severity, but Kennedy's was so bad that he had to have the pacemaker installed when he was 14.

The doctors on the show were surprised, presumably because the average pacemaker recipient is well over 60, and also because pacemakers from that era are typically noticeable under the skin. "You thought I had nice ... You thought I had breast implants?" Kennedy joked (via E! News).

Michael Bolton shared his health battle with fans the minute he was out of the woods. The singer's announcement that he underwent an urgent brain surgeryin a Facebook message that explained the health situation causing him to cancel shows but made it clear they should not worry. "Just before the holidays, it was discovered that I had a brain tumor, which required immediate surgery," he wrote in the January 2024 post. "Thanks to my incredible medical team, the surgery was a success. I am now recuperating at home and surrounded by the tremendous love and support of my family."

Bolton's road to fame was not an easy one, as he struggled to find success after dropping out of school at 16 to pursue music. His earliest two albums with RCA were major bombs, and his time with the label was marred by a nasty court battle over money. He then joined heavy metal group Blackjack and put out two more unsuccessful albums, which could have been the end of his career. But Bolton persevered, put out a rock album with Columbia, and kept chugging along for almost a decade until his major breakout with "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You" in 1990. That fighter spirit is no doubt be an asset for the star, who said he is "working hard to accelerate" his recovery so he can get back to touring.

It was surprising that Meghan Trainor once kept an intense vocal surgery private, and not just because her first vocal surgery was majorly publicized. Trainor is the ultimate queen of the overshare, publicly discussing things like the side-by-side toilets she and her husband have in their home. So, yeah, the fact that Trainor can keep any information private is a revelation, but perhaps she wanted a choice in the matter this time. When she had her first vocal surgery in 2015, Trainor was forced to put it out there because her voice problems required her to cut the remainder of her MTrain Tour.

Without a tour happening or press to do, Trainor was able to keep her second vocal cord surgery a secret until an interview with Ellen DeGeneres in 2017, after completing three months of vocal rest. "It was scary. It's another time of like, 'I'm going to take away all your hopes and dreams for a second, put it on pause and see if they come back,'" Trainor told People. For a singer, anything going wrong in that area has the potential to be a career-ender. Just ask Julie Andrews, whose own 1997 vocal surgery only became public because she sued her doctor after losing her legendary singing voice.

There can't be a greater feeling for an up-and-coming actor than knowing you are experiencing a big break; the kind of role that will change your life forever and offer you career opportunities not previously within reach. This is how Cobie Smulders must have felt when "How I Met Your Mother" came out and became a hit for CBS. The show ended up running for nine seasons, and many of its running gags and catchphrases became part of the cultural lexicon for a whole generation of TV watchers. But it was during those early years of the show that Smulders faced a scary behind-the-scenes health issue that lasted for years and required many operations.

Smulders was 25 when she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2007, during filming of the third season of her now-iconic sitcom. She chose not to speak about it publicly until she was five years cancer-free, but did her first interview about the topic in 2015 to create awareness for the disease. In the Women's Health exclusive, she revealed that multiple surgeries were needed over the course of two years, as the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes and surrounding tissue by the time doctors found the tumors growing on both of her ovaries. The surgeon was able to save one-third of Smulders's ovaries, alleviating her fear that she would never be able to carry a child. As of 2024, she has two kids with her husband, comedian Taran Killam.

Mark Ruffalo is a stellar actor and a passionate activist, who, amongst other things, started Water Defense to educate about water filtration and softening systems, serves on the board of the renewable energy organization, The Solutions Project, and has done so much anti-fracking work that New York Magazine dubbed him the cause's "first famous face." Somehow, he has also had time to develop a stellar acting resume and build a gorgeous family of three kids with his wife, Sunrise Coigney, all in between protests and board meetings.

All of these accomplishments are even more remarkable when you consider some of the personal challenges Ruffalo has faced, including a frightening health scare that left him with a permanent disability. The actor took decades to talk about his 2001 brain surgery, first doing so in a 2024 appearance on the "Smartless" podcast. He recounted how it was a premonition that made him go to the doctor, where he was found to have a large tumor behind his left ear. 

Though his surgery revealed the mass was benign, it left Ruffalo with a year of temporary facial paralysis and permanent deafness in one ear. "Take my hearing, but let me keep the face and just let me be the father to these kids," he recalled (via CNN) of his mindset at the time.

Singer Rod Stewart is still going on tour and performing, but there was a period when he was at risk of not making it to his golden years. Had it not been for a routine scan at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in 2000, Stewart would never have found out that he had a concerning lump in his throat. He got a biopsy the next day and, after doctors determined the mass was cancerous, underwent an emergency surgery days later.

"I had a touch of thyroid cancer, it was over and out within 10 minutes," he later told the hosts of the talk show "Loose Women" (via Smooth Radio). "I don't want to pretend I fought cancer for months and months. It was really easy to get rid of, but I did lose my voice — totally gone."

Stewart only made his cancer diagnosis public nearly a year after his surgery, after his raspy singing voice returned. Because doctors had to cut through the muscles in his throat, the Grammy-winner was told it would be a minute before he would be able to sing. "Three months went by and I still couldn't do it. Not a note. Four months, five months ... nothing. I opened my mouth and all that came out was a thin, weak, sandpapery sound — colorless, without tone," he wrote in his 2012 autobiography (via the Daily Mail). Stewart eventually found a cantor at a local synagogue who helped him retrain his voice.

Larry King decided to tell the world about his lung cancer to raise awareness. The journalist was specifically looking to encourage people to receive regular checkups, as that was how his lung cancer was detected. King was diligent not only his with checkups, but also by insisting on a barrage of routine tests upon each visit. When his x-ray showed abnormalities, his doctor sent him for a CAT scan and then a PET scan, which led to them catching the lung cancer while it was in its first stage. "They said I was lucky and smart to get annual chest x-rays, because lung cancer doesn't give you any signs until it's in late stages," he told People. "And by then, it's too late."

King then embarked on a two-week speaking tour abroad after finding out about his cancer in July 2017, but scheduled his surgery to occur immediately upon his return. "They went in through my ribs with a tiny camera and snipped it out," he explained to the outlet. "I only had a little pain and some shortness of breath but once my speech is back full — and that took about a week — I went right back to work." King waited over a month to share his cancer journey with the media, but he did a whole blitz once he was ready. "They took off 20% of the lung," he told Us Weekly at the time.

As this list makes very clear, it's not uncommon to wait until one is through a big surgery to share their cancer diagnosis with the world. Singer Taylor Dayne is yet another celebrity who kept quiet about her cancer diagnosis until after she went under the knife, although she didn't wait long after recovering to start talking about the importance of early detection.

Dayne decided to discuss her health in a November 2022 interview with Good Morning America. She recounted being diagnosed with colon cancer that July after a routine colonoscopy, which was something she was doing twice a year due to issues with benign polyps in the past. Dayne went in for surgery a couple of weeks after doctors found the malignant polyp, and she was determined to be cancer-free once they removed 10 inches of her colon.

Unfortunately, she developed an infection that kept her in the hospital for nearly three weeks, and the whole thing reminded her of having to constantly be in the hospital as a child with kidney issues. "For me, being back, I felt like I was 4 years old again back in the hospital, basically locked inside my own body without a voice," she said. "So, this has challenged me mentally, emotionally."

The world mourned when Matthew Perry died in October 2023, as the actor was beloved for his work as Chandler on "Friends" and his many other comedic performances. He appeared to have been doing well overcoming the addiction issues that had plagued him for decades — and in his 2022 memoir, "Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing" — made it seem as though his troubles were a thing of the past.

"I had to wait until I was pretty safely sober — and away from the active disease of alcoholism and addiction — to write it all down. And the main thing was, I was pretty certain that it would help people," he told People. An autopsy report released in December 2023 confirmed that there were high levels of ketamine in the actor's body — higher than could be explained by the ketamine therapy he underwent weeks before — when he had died. 

It was a sad end for Perry, who had overcome so much, including more than a dozen secret surgeries. In his book, Perry revealed that opioid use at one point caused his colon to burst, and the gastrointestinal perforation caused him years of complications. He spent two weeks in a coma, five more months in the hospital, and used a colostomy bag for nine months. He also had to undergo 14 painful stomach surgeries, all of which he discussed with a solid dose of his trademark sarcasm.

Linda Evangelista is one of the greatest supermodels the world has ever known, and she dominated the fashion world throughout the 1990s alongside the other "Big Five." She kept on working in the 2000s, but unlike contemporaries Cindy Crawford and Naomi Campbell, eventually pulled away from the public eye. No one knew the health issues she faced while she was off the grid, and when she reemerged, the story became all about a fat-freezing gone. She detailed how a CoolScuplting procedure caused her to become permanently disfigured and filed a $50 million lawsuit against Zeltiq Aesthetics, which the model settled in July 2022.

Even when she was doing media to discuss her CoolScuplting nightmare, Evangelista remained mum on the breast cancer she faced during this same time period. She waited until a 2023 profile in The Wall Street Journal to drop that information, and that was no accident. "Only a handful of people knew. And I'm just not one of those people who has to share everything," she explained. "I thought to myself, I will share this one day but while I am going through it, absolutely not. I don't want the Daily Mail waiting outside my door like they do every time something happens."

Evangelista revealed that after first being diagnosed in December 2018, she immediately underwent a bilateral mastectomy. She realized the cancer had returned after finding a new bump in July 2022, after which Evangelista went under the knife again.

Toni Braxton has traditionally been quite open about her health struggles, including her battle with lupus and the heart and kidney problems that have arisen as a result of that disease. In early 2008, Braxton was diagnosed with microvascular angina, which she shared publicly and even highlighted during her stint as a contestant on "Dancing With the Stars" later in the year.

When Braxton's heart problems escalated in 2022, she kept the information — and the ensuing surgery — under wraps until she felt ready to share the story. It took seven months for Braxton to open up, which she did in an exclusive April 2023 interview with People magazine. "The doctors told me I could've had a massive heart attack, I would not have survived," she disclosed. Braxton usually undergoes regular testing, including blood and urine tests, to stay on top of her lupus, but recalled falling behind. By the time she finally went for testing, doctors found abnormalities in her heart and an 80% blockage in her main coronary artery. 

The Grammy-winning singer went in for emergency surgery only two days after the tests, wherein doctors inserted a coronary stent to help keep the passageway to the heart open. "It was really a scary moment," she said. "Had I not gotten that test, my life would've been different." Like so many others, Braxton explained she was sharing her experience in an effort to help people understand the importance of regular doctor visits.

Sylvester Stallone has always seemed like he's indestructible, thanks in large part to the tough guy persona he has cultivated with iconic characters like Rocky Balboa and John Rambo. But tough guys get hurt too — even if they don't like to show it. That is certainly true of Stallone, who has spoken about being injured on the set of "The Expendables," but waited until 2024 to drop the bomb that he has had seven surgeries to try to heal the injury.

"He doesn't like people to know he's had so many back surgeries," explained his wife, Jennifer Flavin, on "The Family Stallone" (via People). Stallone both directed and starred in "The Expendables," a flick that assembled a bunch of aging action stars as a team of mercenaries. The film was successful enough that there have been four of them made, but it was during the first one in 2010 that Stallone suffered his debilitating injury.

The incident in question happened during a scene where he was tackled by WWE star Steve Austin, which Stallone has major regrets about. "After that film, it was never physically the same. So I warn people, 'Don't do your own stunts,'" he recalled. Stallone — who dislocated his shoulders and fractured his neck — has since undergone many surgeries, including one to insert a metal plate in his neck. He has also had multiple spinal fusions, a surgery that joins together vertebrae so they cannot move, thus easing pain in the neck and back.

There are so many people connected to the British royal family that information rarely gets kept secret, even when the royals desperately wish it would. Occasionally, an extremely sensitive matter can manage to be kept under wraps with some careful planning and a solid gauge of who can be trusted not to talk to the press. That's exactly what happened when Kate Middleton went in for abdominal surgery, shocking not only the public but also those closest to the Princess of Wales.

"Within their broader circle of family friends, there had been no indication that anything was wrong, and the carefully guarded news about Kate's situation came as a surprise even to those who work closely with the royal family," wrote People, with the reason for the surgery not being publicly disclosed.

Representatives for Kensington Palace announced that the princess was in the hospital on January 17, for a planned abdominal surgery that happened the day prior. She spent a couple of weeks in the hospital, but by February 1, was said to be working from her bed at Adelaide Cottage, the home on the Windsor Estate where the princess lives with the Prince of Whales and their three children.