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Heartbreaking moment Martin Kemp tells son Roman he thinks he has 10 years left to live
Home>Entertainment>Celebrity
Updated 11:02 5 May 2024 GMT+1Published 10:59 5 May 2024 GMT+1

Heartbreaking moment Martin Kemp tells son Roman he thinks he has 10 years left to live

Martin and Roman Kemp recently launched their new podcast

Jess Battison

Jess Battison

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In the mix of all the father-son duos out there right now, there’s the former boyband star and his former radio host lad.

Yep, while Bradley and Barney Walsh have been hosting the return of Gladiators together, Martin and Roman Kemp have been launching their own podcast – obviously.

But the pair’s series FFS! My dad is Martin Kemp, isn’t all so bright and cheery as the Spandau Ballet musician told his son his heartbreaking prediction.

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The 62-year-old and the 31-year-old recently launched their new podcast, and the first episode was morbidly titled ‘Death, Martin and Roman’.

And during it, Roman asked his dad how much longer he expects to live.

In the somewhat heartbreaking moment, Martin told his lad: “I’ll be really honest with you, 10 years.”

Martin and Roman Kemp. (Antony Jones/Getty Images for Tu at Sainsbury's)
Martin and Roman Kemp. (Antony Jones/Getty Images for Tu at Sainsbury's)

The star continued: “I don’t know how long I’ve got left but I will tell you, since I was the age of 34, when I went through all of that brain tumour scare, I spent two years of my life thinking I was going to die.

“And I think, after that, everything else, every day, every year, every month that I’ve lived, every experience that I’ve had has been a bonus.”

Back in the 90s, Martin was diagnosed with two benign brain tumours and underwent successful radiotherapy and surgery to have the growths removed.

However, he has lived with epilepsy ever since as a side effect of the difficult experience.

The EastEnders actor explained he had been ‘practically resigned’ to the idea of death and had been ‘happy with his lot’.

Kemp suffers from epilepsy. (Shane Anthony Sinclair/Getty Images)
Kemp suffers from epilepsy. (Shane Anthony Sinclair/Getty Images)

“If I go, do you know what? What a life’ and that was back then. So, every year that I live, every month that I’m alive now is like a bonus,” Martin added.

“I would be happy if I got to 80, that gives me 18 years.”

During an appearance on the Dish podcast with Nick Grimshaw and Angela Hartnett, he spoke about how his time on EastEnders (between 1998 and 2002) helped his recovery.

He explained his brain ‘still wasn’t working properly from the operation’.

“To the point where sometimes if I wanted to walk left, I would walk right, or like I couldn’t think about putting things in order, or anything like that. Learning lines was just way out there,” he said.

“When EastEnders was offered to me it was a chance for me to get over it, so it wasn’t just me taking EastEnders on because I thought yeah, it was a good gig – it was me trying to get my life back together.”

Featured Image Credit: Shane Anthony Sinclair/Getty Images/Lia Toby/Getty Images

Topics: Roman Kemp, Health, Celebrity

Jess Battison
Jess Battison

Jess is a Senior Journalist with a love of all things pop culture. With a specialism in entertainment, she's covered the updates live at major events from The Brits in London to Disney's D23 in California. Jess covers the latest breaking news stories across the UK and the globe as well as interviewing your favourite faces including the likes of Dwayne Johnson, Stephen Graham, Aubrey Plaza and Chris Hemsworth. She graduated with a first in Journalism from City, University of London in 2021.

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@jessbattison_

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