Former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted has opened up about a private health battle, revealing he’s now cancer free after undergoing treatment for throat cancer.
Speaking on the Let There Be Talk podcast, Newsted confirmed it’s been nearly a year since his surgery, and he’s only recently been given the all clear (per NME).
“And so they took a bunch of shit outta here and then they went in with lasers this way and took a bunch of shit out,” he said. “So the cavern inside my head is different than it was, but we got it early. And I got my ‘free and clear’ about three weeks ago. So I beat it.”
Caught early, but not taken lightly
Newsted’s tone is blunt, but there’s weight behind it, catching the cancer early made all the difference, but the experience forced him to slow down in a way he never had before.
“I promised myself I was going to rest, and that was the first time I’ve done that in my life. I’m usually just on or off. And so I promised myself I was gonna take the gravity off and lay down for the right amount of hours.”
It’s a shift for someone who’s spent decades moving at full speed, from stepping into Metallica after Cliff Burton’s death in 1986 through to his eventual exit in 2001.
A forced reset
The recovery didn’t just hit physically. It changed how he approaches everything:
“And there’s no way, with my arrogant, spoiled ass that I would’ve stopped smoking weed, that I would’ve stopped drinking, that I would’ve stopped doing all the things. But the great spirit got my attention and said, ‘That’s not good right now, man.’ And so it pulled me off it. And so now I’m more clear-headed than I’ve been in my entire adult life. And so there’s blessings within everything. The lemonade I’m making this summer, bro — mm. Sweet. Ooh.”
It’s raw, unfiltered, and very Newsted, there’s no attempt to polish it up, just a straight look at what it took to come out the other side.
Metallica keeps moving
While Newsted has been dealing with his health, Metallica continue to push forward, the band are set to reissue ‘Reload’ on June 26th with unreleased material, alongside a major Las Vegas Sphere residency running from October through to March 2027.
There’s also a run of UK and European dates locked in, plus a two night stint at Mohegan Sun Arena later this year.
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