Eddie Money revealed a cancer diagnosis on Real Money before he passed away on September 13th. The Grammy Award-nominated singer and reality TV star was known for his rock hits and his over the top personality which always came with a great sense of humor.
Most fans know his music as the soundtrack to the 1980s which helped form MTV, with hits like “Shakin” and “Baby Hold On.” The Money family starred in a show called Real Money which followed them around, chronicling their home life, tours on the road, and in the end the singer’s recent health struggles. In 2001, the singer completed a rehab stint for smoking and drug-related problems after almost overdosing, which caused him not to be able to walk for almost a year.
The “Take Me Home Tonight” and “Two Tickets to Paradise” singer died Friday in Los Angeles at the age of 70. The rock star revealed he was diagnosed with stage four esophageal cancer last month. Recently in a new episode of Real Money, which is his show that airs on AXS TV, he opened up about being diagnosed with the terminal disease. The show aired Thursday night with Money speaking about how relieved he was that he didn’t feel any pain, but that he had lost his appetite which caused him to lose 50 pounds. He said he developed a problem swallowing in the months that lead up to him being diagnosed with cancer. When the singer finally went to the doctor, he believed he was just going in for a routine checkup, but as the doctor was telling him he had cancer he was not at all surprised. He continued to say on the show that he hadn’t been able to keep food down without getting sick, so he was aware something was going wrong inside his body. After hearing the news about his cancer, the singer announced he was in complete shock.
Money’s family had a very hard time processing the sudden news but did not consider the diagnosis to be a death sentence. His wife, Laurie Harris, his daughter Jesse Money, and sons Zach, Joseph, Desmond, and Julian Money said they really resisted processing the news and had an internal dilemma whether to speak about it on Real Money. The show was in its second season and Money wanted to be honest with his fans, letting them know what was going on as they have noticed his weight loss as well. He wanted to give hope to his viewers that cancer treatments have come a long way and not everybody dies from cancer anymore.
In what will now be his last season of Real Money the singer spoke with gratitude when he referred to his family and career. The singer joked that he was lucky to have seen the age of 69 and had already picked out a final resting place, a crypt, just in case surviving cancer did not work out. AXS has also announced that they will air four more new episodes of Real Money and will also be planning a marathon in the singer’s memory.
Real Money air Thursday at 9:30 pm EST on AXS.
Source: USA