David Bowie's Death Secret— How He Hid Cancer Nightmare From Closest Friends
Nov. 9 2016, Published 10:15 a.m. ET
When David Bowie succumbed to cancer earlier this year, his fans were stunned. And according to the music legend's bandmate Woody Woodmansey, his best friends were the most shocked of all.
In his upcoming tell-all, Spiders From Mars: My Life With Bowie, drummer Woodmansey claims he didn't know that his lifelong friend even had cancer, never mind was on death's door.
They spoke just two days before his death in a warm phone call during the Spiders From Mars tour stop in New York.
"Good luck with the tour," Bowie told producer pal Tony Visconti, who was with Woodmansey and other band members.
Two days later, in the middle of the night, Woodmansey and his wife June heard the horrible news.
"It took quite a few minutes to actually grasp the reality of the situation. It was surreal, made worse by the fact that we were still half asleep," he writes, adding that he consoled Visconti. "Both of us were devastated."
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Though Woodmansey didn't know anything about Bowie's illness, Visconti did know about their friend's cancer battle, but "was under the impression that he was beating it," the memoir author explains. "So the news had really come out of left field."
Bowie's team broke the tragic news that the icon had died following an 18-month battle with cancer on January 10, 2016. He had turned 69, and released a new album, Blackstar, just two days prior.
He left his wife of more than 20 years, supermodel Iman, their daughter Lexi Zahra Jones, and his son with ex-wife Angie Bowie, Duncan Jones.
Bowie's tragic death secret - how he hid cancer nightmare from closest friends
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