Director Steve McQueen Reveals Secret Battle with Cancer: ‘Fully Recovered’

Steve McQueen is opening up about his battle with cancer in a new interview with Deadline.

The filmmaker revealed that in 2022 he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, but kept the information private.

McQueen explained that his father, Philbert McQueen, died from prostate cancer in 2006.

“I knew there could be a hereditary situation whereby I could develop prostate cancer,” he said. For that reason, he got regular scans and checks.

While working on “Blitz” in 2022,  he said doctors “discovered that I had developed this cancer, this tumor, a small tumor, and therefore obviously caught it very, very, early. I delayed the shoot by two weeks and then had the procedure.”

Once the tumor was removed, he was in the hospital for two days and then had 12 days to recover at home.

He told Deadline he is now “fully recovered and fully functional, and that includes downstairs.”

After the operation, he spent two days in the hospital and 12 days recovering at home. He shared, “Two weeks after the procedure, I was on set shooting” 

Now, he wants to get the word out about getting screened.

“The cancer’s gone and that’s down to early detection,” McQueen said. “Early detection means virtually a hundred percent success rate. Again, it’s a cancer that if you detect early, it’s totally survivable and curable.”

The “12 Years a Slave” director is also supporting the charity Prostate Cancer Research and joined the organization for an event in Parliament on Thursday. He is also releasing a short film featuring David Harewood later this month for the Proactive for Your Prostate campaign.

Fans may recall that back in 2021, before his own diagnosis, McQueen raised awareness about prostate cancer in the Black community with another short film called “Embarrassed,” featuring Idris Elba, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Morgan Freeman and Michael Ward.