"Crushed me for months on end": Blink-182 member Mark Hoppus gets candid about cancer battle

Mark Hoppus, the co-founder, lead vocalist, and bassist of the rock band Blink-182, recently opened up about his struggles with cancer in an interview with The Guardian.

Mark found out about the cancer towards the end of the COVID-19 lockdown in 2021, when he felt a lump over his shoulder. Upon intervention, it turned out to be a stage 4 diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. The Dammit, singer recalled how he felt during the chemotherapy, saying:

“The physical pain and exhaustion of the chemo, mixed with the steroids and all the other drugs, just crushed me for months on end.''

Mark Hoppus talks about his cancer experience

The host of the 2010 talk show, Hoppus on Music, shared his journey right from diagnosis to going through chemotherapy, and to breaking down, sharing the news with fans, and lastly his acceptance in the interview.

Describing the hard times during the chemotherapy, he mentions an instance where he got a type of chemo that was so strong that his wife was not asked to use the same washroom, in case any of the material splashed or touched her skin.

Mark Hoppus then played a voice note he had recorded back then, and it goes:

‘I don’t want to go to the place where they pump me full of poison / And then walk around for a week wishing I could die.”

The verse he sings hints at how he used humor and music to cope during the tough times. After he played the voice note, he said:

''I really thought I was going to die. And, in a way, it absolutely was so freeing. I’d spent my whole life hypervigilant, thinking: what’s the worst thing that could happen? And, oh, it’s here now, I’m dealing with it and it still sucks.''

He then mentioned how the chemotherapy caused him so much pain, and then taking other steroids and medication further worsened it. Mark talks about how his cancer rekindled his friendship with Tom DeLonge, who was the co-founder, vocalist, and guitarist of Blink-182. Mark Hoppus has had a complicated friendship with Tom DeLonge over the years.

However, when he came to know about Mark Hoppus suffering from cancer, he reached out to him immediately. Mark said:

''It healed my friendship with Tom: from day one, he was like: ‘What do you need? I’m there.’ In that friendship and the love and support of people around me, I thought: you know what? I’ve had a pretty awesome life.”

Mark then shared how he accidentally shared a photo of him on a drip on Instagram. He explained how he thought that when the news of his cancer broke to the world, everyone would have a certain opinion of him.

He then spoke about how his fans reacted with love and support to the news. He said that they sent gifts, and some of them who had survived cancer, sent him videos of them singing Blink-182 songs. Expressing how he felt, he said:

''All these people who were fighters and winners, who overcame their cancer,” he marvels. “That helped. I was finally able to say: ‘Yeah. I’m fu*king scared, but, you know, I try to put on a brave face.’'

Mark Hoppus announced he was cancer-free in September 2021 and currently he is promoting his memoir Fahrenheit-182, which delves into topics including his personal challenges, musical journey, and also his cancer battle.

Comment

Edited by Vinayak Chakravorty