Martin Kemp, 62, predicts he has 10 years left to live as he tells his son Roman that his previous brain tumour diagnoses left him ‘resigned to the fact that I was going to die’

Martin Kemp told his son Roman that his previous brain tumour diagnoses left him ‘resigned to the fact that I was going to die’.

The Spandau Ballet bassist, 62, was diagnosed with two brain tumours in the ’90s and had to undergo radiotherapy and surgery to have them removed. 

While the benign growths were successfully removed and have not reoccurred, Martin continued to battle epilepsy as a side effect.

Speaking on the first episode of his and Roman’s podcast FFS! My Dad Is Martin Kemp, aptly titled Death, Martin and Roman, 31, got candid about the subject.

At one point, Roman asked Martin how much longer he thinks he’ll be alive. Martin replies: ‘I’ll be really honest with you, 10 years.’

Martin explained: ‘I don’t know how long I’ve got left but I will tell you, since I was the age of 34, when I went through all of that brain tumour scare, I spent two years of my life thinking I was going to die. 

‘And I think, after that, everything else, every day, every year, every month that I’ve lived, every experience that I’ve had has been a bonus.

‘I was practically resigned to the fact that I was going to die, but I was quite happy with my lot, because I had lived the most incredible experiences.’

Martin reiterated: ‘By the time I was 34 and I thought I was going to die, I spent two years thinking about it, I was quite happy, I thought: “If I go, do you know what? What a life, and that was back then.” So, every year that I live, every month that I’m alive now is like a bonus.’

The star revealed that in the midst of his recuperation, when he was still struggling with his brain function, EastEnders approached him with the role of Steve Owen.

Martin recalled on the Dish podcast in 2022: ‘Everybody around me was saying: “Don’t do it, don’t do it. It’s going to ruin your career, don’t do it”. 

‘Well, because they hadn’t had any name actors in that show before, right? Everybody had grown up with EastEnders, so I was kind of the first one of those name actors to go in.”

Explaining his hesitation, Martin said: ‘My brain still wasn’t working properly from the operation. To the point where sometimes if I wanted to walk left, I would walk right, or like I couldn’t think about putting things in order, or anything like that. 

‘Learning lines was just way out there. When EastEnders was offered to me it was a chance for me to get over it, so it wasn’t just me taking EastEnders on because I thought yeah, it was a good gig – it was me trying to get my life back together.

As fans of the soap will know, Martin succeeded – his villainous character’s run from 1998 to 2002 is still highly regarded today.

Talking about his treatment in 2009, Martin revealed: ‘The first tumour was the size of a squashed grapefruit and doctors could cut my skull to get to it.’

‘What was terrifying was the second tumour – doctors avoided talking about it. I was very worried about the little guy in the middle of my head.’ 

‘After two years, doctors said it was growing and wanted to cut it out. But my wife didn’t want me to have the operation because it would leave so much collateral damage.

‘She found a doctor who said it could be attacked with radiation,with an early form of Gamma Knife technology.

‘Within six months oftreatment there were signs it was dying and today there is nothing leftof it.’

FFS! My Dad Is Martin Kemp airs on all podcast streaming services on Mondays and on YouTube on Saturdays.