Barry Manilow Shares Hospital Bed Selfie and Update After Cancer Diagnosis

Barry Manilow took stock of his state of health after being diagnosed with lung cancer.

The 82-year-old Grammy Award winner shared a photo of himself smiling as he lay in a hospital bed on Friday, January 2. Alongside the photo, Manilow assured his fans Friday that he felt “better today.”

Manilow has been flooded with positive messages and well wishes from his Instagram followers. Melanie TaylorManilow’s longtime backup singer, beamed “he’s my boss, y’all” in the comments.

“He’s doing it in the rain! I love you B,” Taylor continued.

Guns N’ Roses and The Cult alumnus Matt Sorum added: “Get well Barry, much love.”

“Sending lots of love, Barry,” drag the icon Coco Peru intervened.

On December 22, Manilow made his lung cancer diagnosis public and confirmed that he would soon undergo surgery.

“As many of you know, I recently went through six weeks of bronchitis followed by a relapse for another five weeks. Even though I was cleared of bronchitis and back on stage at Westgate in Las Vegas, my wonderful doctor ordered an MRI just to make sure everything was okay,” he shared via Instagram. “The MRI discovered a cancerous spot on my left lung that needs to be removed. It was pure luck (and an excellent doctor) that it was discovered so early. This is good news.”

The “Can’t Smile Without You” singer explained that he had to finish his annual Christmas concerts in December before setting a date to “get the spot taken down.”

“The doctors don’t believe it has spread, and I’m running tests to confirm their diagnosis. So that’s it. No chemo. No radiation. Just chicken soup and I love Lucy reruns,” he wrote.

The singer-songwriter announced that he needed “a month to recover” after the operation and therefore canceled the concerts planned for January. (Manilow was scheduled to headline concerts in Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia and Ohio this month.)

“I’m so sorry you have to change your plans,” he wrote to fans. “Just like you, we were all looking forward to the January concerts and hated having to move everything.”

Looking ahead, Manilow said he plans to return to the stage for his Valentine’s Day weekend concerts at Westgate in Las Vegas, Feb. 12-14.

“Something tells me this February weekend is going to be a big party!” » » concludes Manilow. “I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year. And remember, if you have any symptoms…get tested! I’ll see you at Westgate Las Vegas on Valentine’s Day!”

Manilow has been open about his smoking habit over the years. He said The evening standard by 2012, he had “smoked for 30 years”, having started when he was only “9 years old”.

“Then I stopped about 15, 20 years ago,” he said at the time. “Then I started in Las Vegas and the band and I went to a little club and someone offered me a cigarette. And I was back. Within a week, I was back. Not on a pack a day, because when I was really smoking, I was on three packs a day – no filter. Oh yeah. I was a big smoker.”

More recently, Manilow has turned to vaping. Before his recent lung cancer diagnosis, Manilow battled bronchial pneumonia, an oral tumor and was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma – a form of throat cancer – in 2020. (Manilow underwent surgery and voice therapy after his throat cancer diagnosis in 2020 and ultimately made a full recovery.)

In 2019, Manilow admitted Daily mirror that he was ready to accept the consequences after smoking all his life.

“I’m fine, I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop. I’m very old, I shouldn’t be able to do this,” he said. “You’ve seen me go up these stairs on stage – there’s 14 steps up and 14 steps down, you’d think I should be in a wheelchair or something.”

Manilow is supported throughout his recovery from lung cancer by his husband, Gary Kiefwhom he married in 2014 after more than 35 years together.