Celebs Who Have Had Skin Cancer — and What They Do Now to Prevent Recurrence

Kevin Jonas, Christie Brinkley, Andy Cohen and more stars have opened up about skin cancer and the importance of staying protected from UV rays

Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer, with an estimated 1 in 5 Americans receiving a skin cancer diagnosis in their lifetime.

And skin cancer cases are rising, with the American Academy of Dermatology Association reporting that “melanoma rates in the United States have been rising rapidly" in recent years.

Melanoma is “one of the better-known types of skin cancer,” Verywell Health reports, but “it's not all that common. It makes up about 1% of skin cancers. In the U.S., there are about 106,000 cases per year and about 7,100 people die from it annually.”

The most common skin cancer, Verywell Health explains, is basal cell carcinoma, which is diagnosed in approximately 4 million Americans a year. Although treatable if caught early, the outlet reports “if these cancers are not recognized and treated, they can lead to disfigurement, complications and even death.”

Although the American Cancer Society estimates that the average age for a skin cancer diagnosis is 66, celebs of all ages are sharing their diagnoses — and hoping it motivates others to use sunscreen and avoid tanning — as sun exposure is widely regarded as a leading cause of skin cancer.

"Repeated sunburns can lead to irreversible DNA damage and immune suppression. These factors can lead to the development of skin cancer,” Krista M. Rubin, NP, from the Mass General Cancer Center Melanoma Team, told PEOPLE.

"There is clear-cut evidence that excessive UV radiation is a carcinogen," she says.

As Rubin tells PEOPLE: "There are no benefits to being in the sun without sunscreen and any exposure to the sun without sun protection is not advised."

Here’s what Kevin Jonas, Hugh Jackman, Christie Brinkley and others have shared about their skin cancer diagnoses, and why they want everyone — and their families — to be safe in the sun.

Kevin Jonas

The Jonas Brothers guitarist shared an Instagram reel of himself “getting a basal cell carcinoma removed from my head,” he explained in a June 2024 post.

The Camp Rock alum, 36, posted a close-up of the mark on his skin, calling it an “actual little skin cancer guy.”

It “started to grow, and now I have to get surgery to remove it,” Jonas explained, ending his post with a plea for his fans.

“Make sure to get those moles checked, people!”

Christie Brinkley

Brinkley, 70, shared that she’d had basal cell carcinoma removed from the side of her face, sharing that the “good news” is that it was caught “early.”

"I got serious a bit late so now for this ole mermaid/gardener, I’ll be slathering on my SPF 30, reapplying as needed, wearing long sleeves and a wide brim hat," she said in a March 2024 Instagram post about her diagnosis — something she discovered while accompanying her daughter to a dermatologist appointment.

The supermodel shared that, at the end of her daughter’s appointment, she asked the doctor, “ ‘Do you think you could just look at this?' … He looked and he goes, 'We've got to do a biopsy immediately.' " 

While Brinkley is now in the clear, she urged her followers to "make your own good luck by making that check-up appointment today. And slather up my friends!"

Hugh Jackman

"Put some sunscreen on,” the Deadpool & Wolverine star, 55, pleaded with his followers in an Instagram reel in April 2023. Appearing with a bandage on his nose, Jackman revealed that he’d had biopsies done for basal cell carcinoma.

The actor’s first skin cancer diagnosis came in 2013, after then-wife Deborra-Lee Furness told him "to get the mark on my nose checked. Boy, was she right!"

The actor has since had multiple skin biopsies done on his nose — using his health struggle as an opportunity to urge his fans to “please get skin checks often, please don't think it won't happen to you."

After the latest biopsy, Jackman urged fans to "put some sunscreen on." He added, "You'll still have an incredible time out there. Please be safe.”

Andy Roddick

Tennis star Roddick, 41, showed off a visibly inflamed face during a May 2024 episode of his podcast Served, sharing that it was due to a “face laser thing” he’d had as a treatment for skin cancer.

“I've dealt with various types of skin cancer since I stopped playing,” said Roddick, whose last professional match was the U.S. Open in 2012.

“[I] had a squamous cell tumor taken out of my lip, probably like five or six years ago,” he continued.

Roddick added, “I think I'm going to be a general kind of hatchet job for the rest of my life. [I] won't go into the ‘woe was me' part of it, because nothing is wrong, everything is good but — use sunscreen.”

Roddick, who shares son Hank, 8, and daughter Stevie, 6, with wife Brooklyn Decker, 37, urged his fans to, “Put sunscreen on your kids, especially if they are tennis players.”

“The problem won't present itself when the kid is 8, but it might present itself when that kid is grown and is 38.”

Teddi Mellencamp Arroyave

Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum Arroyave has candidly shared the scars of her ongoing struggle with melanoma, revealing this past January that she was finally told by her oncologist that she was “all good. Some atypical areas, but no melanoma. We’ll have to keep a close watch on you, but all good now.”

Last September, Arroyave, 42, was diagnosed with her 13th melanoma.

“Skin checks are essential," she has said. "We've seen how quickly it can turn from one melanoma to 12. So when your doctor says, 'See you in three months,' it's three months."

Harry Jowsey

Perfect Match star Jowsey, 27, revealed that he’d had skin cancer removed from his shoulder in an April 2024 TikTok video.

Although he joked “If you're a freckly little frog like me, go get a mole map and get your body checked because you never know,” Jowsey admitted that the diagnosis was “very scary.”

The former Dancing with the Stars contestant urged his followers to get their “skin checked, wear your sunscreen and be a little bit more responsible.”

Alexa Bliss

The WWE star revealed bandages on the side of her face in a March 2023 Instagram post — with a warning to "younger me.”

“You should have stayed out of tanning beds," Bliss, now 32, said, adding, "All clear now though!"

The Masked Singer alum shared more details on X, formerly known as Twitter, writing "There was a spot on my face yes — that had gotten worse."

A biopsy confirmed it was basal cell carcinoma, and Bliss shared that “During my procedure doc also found other squamous cells. Was a quick and easy procedure. Glad I always get my skin checked😊.”

Janelle Brown

Sister Wives star Janelle Brown, now 55, shared that at first, she thought she had a cold sore on her lip.

“It never developed and just stayed,” she wrote in a March 2021 Instagram post. ”Over the next year or so it slowly increased in size.”

The mark, she said, looked like scar tissue, and when she finally got it checked out, the diagnosis was "basal cell carcinoma, skin cancer, non malignant, but it still needed to be removed."

She shared that she’s always been vigilant about using sunscreen, writing, “You have to know that I am very very careful to always apply sunscreen. I have always burned so easily so really cannot go out, ever, without some sort of protection.”

She ended her post urging her followers to always see their doctor of they notice something on their skin.

“I hope this share will be helpful to some. I am sharing to say that, even if it seems like it couldn’t be skin cancer, it doesn’t hurt to have your doctor look at it 💗”

Jamie Campbell

“I would never, ever have considered putting on sunscreen to drive,” Campbell, a Toronto Blue Jays sportscaster for Sportsnet, told TODAY last December.

But as Campbell, then 56, shared, his dermatologist told him that he had precancerous skin growths — the result of sun exposure from his car window.

The red marks came from photodynamic therapy, which he explained entailed applying a cream, called a photosensitizing agent, to his face for three hours.

The cream kills precancerous cells under red light, something Campbell told TODAY felt like "someone holding a blowtorch to your face."

He said he shared his story to alert others about the hidden dangers of not wearing sunscreen — even when you’re just driving.

“The benefit of me doing this is that I have heard from many, many people who have changed their habits,” he told TODAY.

Matt King

On a June 2024 episode of the Unfiltered podcast, King — a podcaster and Vine star — told hosts Zane Hijazi and Heath Hussar that he had had “basal cell carcinoma, the most treatable form of skin cancer there is."

In a later TikTok, King, 31, shared that during a recent dermatologist visit, his doctor was concerned about a spot on his skin, and took a few biopsies.

“That spot ended up being nothing,” King said. “I pointed out every other random spot on my body I’d been concerned about and she noticed a spot on my back that I never noticed. She took a biopsy, called me back a week later and told me it was basal cell carcinoma.”

“I’ve got that freckly-Irish skin [and] I’m very sensitive to the sun,” King said. “I’ve always been concerned about the really scary-looking skin cancer spots and I never realized that what I have is cancerous.”

Richard Simmons

Fitness icon Simmons, 75, shared that he’d called his dermatologist after noticing “this strange-looking bump under my right eye.”

“He told me he would have to scrape it and put it under the microscope,” Simmons wrote on in a March 2024 Facebook post. “Now I am getting a little bit nervous. He comes back about 20 minutes later and says the C word. ‘You have cancer.’ ”

Specifically, he had basal cell carcinoma, and had to undergo three painful procedures where he said the doctor had to “burn my skin to remove the cancer cells.”

“There was no numbing it just had to be done with a small instrument. As he started burning my skin a tear dropped down my cheek….The burning really hurt my skin."

But as Simmons said, "third time was a charm,” sharing that after the third procedure, the doctor told him, ‘'We got all the cancer cells out.' “

Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York

On the heels of her breast cancer diagnosis, which caused the Duchess of York to undergo a mastectomy in June 2023, she shared that she’d been diagnosed with malignant melanoma at the start of 2024.

“The Duchess wants to thank the entire medical team which has supported her, particularly her dermatologist whose vigilance ensured the illness was detected when it was,” a representative said in a statement. “She believes her experience underlines the importance of checking the size, shape, color and texture and emergence of new moles that can be a sign of melanoma.”

In March, PEOPLE reported that the Duchess had learned the skin cancer had not spread — but would need to be vigilant with checkups every 12 weeks.

Tyler 'Ninja' Blevins

Blevins — the top streamer on video game platform Twitch, where he’s known as Ninja — shared that he’d been diagnosed with melanoma at a routine dermatological skin check appointment made by his wife Jessica.

“I’m still in a bit of shock but want to keep you all updated. A few weeks ago I went in to a dermatologist for an annual skin/mole check that Jess proactively scheduled for me. There was a mole on the bottom of my foot that they wanted to remove just to be careful," Blevins, 33, wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter), in March 2024.

“It came back as melanoma, but they are optimistic that we caught it in the early stages. I had another dark spot appear near it, so today they biopsied that and removed a larger area around the melanoma with the hopes that under the microscope they will see clear non-melanoma edges and we will know we got it," he added.

"I’m grateful to have hope in finding this early, but please take this as a PSA to get skin checkups," said Blevins, who shared in April that he was “officially cancer free.”

Andy Cohen

Cohen, now 56, was diagnosed with melanoma in 2016 after his friend Kelly Ripa spotted a black dot on his lip — and told him that he needed to see a dermatologist.

"It really taught me because I am tanorexic. I love the sun, I really do," the Watch What Happens Live! host admitted to Ripa during an appearance on Live with Kelly. “And I, of course, never thought that that kind of thing would happen to me and it will change my relationship to the sun."

While "I really had a chunk removed out of it" due to the melanoma, he said, “The lip heals very well."

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