The 65-year-old actor, who portrays Michael Baldwin on 'The Young and the Restless', reveals that he was diagnosed with myeloma in June, a blood cancer that develops in plasma cells in the bone marrow.
- Oct 26, 2023
AceShowbiz - Christian LeBlanc has finally revealed why he has been absent from "The Young and the Restless". The actor divulged that in June, he was diagnosed with myeloma, a blood cancer that develops in plasma cells in the bone marrow. Luckily, he is now in remission.
The 65-year-old opened up about his health during an interview with New Orleans' CBS affiliate, WWL-TV, on Tuesday, October 24. "I'd never spent a day in the hospital in my 65 years until this year," he first stated. "It's a common cancer but a very fast-moving one."
Christian went on to detail the signs that he noticed before he got his diagnosis. "I put on [my character] Michael [Baldwin]'s wedding ring and I put my hand down and the ring fell off without friction. I said, 'What an odd thing,' " he recalled, claiming that he lost 35 pounds in two months.
Christian also noted that his "eye kind of got a little wonky." He eventually learned that he had a tumor in his sinus cavity that was pressing on his optic nerve after visiting a neurological ophthalmologist.
"The fans caught it," he disclosed. "I was getting people [saying], like, 'Your eye is a little Jim Carrey[-esque] that way.' "
Christian is now in remission following immunotherapy treatment. Now, he's focusing on regaining the weight he lost. "[My doctors] said, 'Eat like it's your job,' and I said, 'I was raised to fulfill this promise. Louisiana, New Orleans, easily done,' " he recounted.
For Christian, his diagnosis was like a life-imitates-art situation since his character on "The Young and the Restless" had his own cancer journey. "It's interesting. You play that scene where you hear the word, just the word, in a doctor's office: cancer. And I got to play that as Michael Baldwin," he said.
