Khloé Kardashian has explained the reason why she kept her first skin cancer experience a secret.
At the age of 19, The Kardashians star was diagnosed with skin cancer on her back. Decades later, in 2022, she also had a melanoma lump removed from her face.
Now, many years on from her first diagnosis with skin cancer, Khloé has admitted the reason why she initially hid the news from her family.
In the latest episode of her Khloé in Wonderland podcast, the 41-year-old recalled that she was diagnosed just a few months after the death of her father, Robert Kardashian. The 59-year-old passed away in September 2003, two months after he was diagnosed with cancer in his esophagus.
“When you’re 19, you don’t really think about how scary things can be, so I don’t remember a lot. I know my dad died when I was 19 of esophageal cancer and then months later I found out I had skin cancer on my back,” Khloé began.
“I literally didn’t even tell my family because I knew I just had to get this removed and I’ll be fine,” she confessed, adding that she “didn’t want to worry anyone” while her family was grieving.
“I knew I was fine. Cancer is a really scary word. I was also 19 and you’re nuts at 19 years old. I literally drove myself to the doctor, got all this skin removed and that was it. [I] didn’t think much about it,” Khloé reflected.
The mother-of-two then went on to share that she presumed that her second skin cancer diagnosis was a “cystic pimple”.
“It would not go away. I was trying to pick it, all these things. I think I messed around with it for over a year. I got facials. I would ask this person, that person, no one thought it was weird, it was my same skin colour,” Khloé stated.
“We cut it out and within days they found out it was melanoma. I sent it to my other dermatologist, they analysed it. Because it’s on my face … where my cheek line is, they have to remove the tumour that’s there. You also have to take enough skin, like healthy skin, around it to make sure the cells didn’t spread,” she noted.
“The scary part is you don’t know how much they need to remove until they start cutting into you. They think they’re getting all the borders, but then they have to test it,” Khloé concluded, adding that the surgery was successful.
