Mark Hoppus reflects on "brutal" cancer battle four years on from diagnosis

1 May 2025, 17:16 | Updated: 2 May 2025, 17:50

Mark Hoppus at Coachella in 2023 and in the Radio X studio. Picture: Monica Schipper/Getty Images for Coachella, Radio X

By Jenny Mensah

The Blink-182 co-founder recalled how he was diagnosed with cancer and opened up to The Chris Moyles Show about his gruelling chemotherapy sessions.

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Mark Hoppus has opened up about his cancer battle and revealed he had to undergo one of the most "brutal" of chemotherapy treatment.

The Blink 182 rocker visited Radio X HQ on what was incredibly four years to the day he found something on his shoulder, which led to him being diagnosed with a 4-A diffuse large B-cell lymphoma shortly after.

"I think it was four years ago today," he recalled to The Chris Moyles Show. "I was playing video games and I was talking with my son, who was away in college, andI felt a weird thing on my shoulder and three days later I was getting ready for chemo."

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The All The Small Things rocker went on: "The chemo was brutal, it was awful. My form of cancer, my doctor told me the good news is that I had a 60 per cent chance of getting through it and never having to deal with it again, but the bad part was that the chemo is one of the worst that you could undergo and it was bad.

"I don't recommend it. Zero out of five stars, but it saved me so it was all good."

Despite the doctor's prognosis, Hoppus admitted that he didn't think he was going to make it through as he believed he would be on the "wrong side" of the 60 per cent and began thinking about who would look after his family.

"It was pretty dark," he revealed. "It was awful and I really thought that I wasn't going to make it and I thought I was on the wrong side of that 60% and I was mentally preparing for my family moving on and what my wife was going to do when I was gone and who was gonna raise my son and all that kind of stuff".

Watch the moment the Miss You rocker surprised Blink superfan Captain Crapbeard on The Chris Moyles Show below:

Mark Hoppus surprises our SUPERFAN producer!

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Hoppus' cancer battle is detailed among the story of his life and career in new memoir Fahrenheit-182, which is out now.

A synopsis of the Sunday Times Bestseller reads: "This is a story of what happens when an angst-ridden kid who grew up in the desert experiences his parents' bitter divorce, moves around the country, switches identities from dork to goth to skate punk, and eventually meets his best friend who just so happens to be his musical soulmate.

"Bassist, songwriter, and vocalist for renowned pop-punk trailblazers blink-182, Mark Hoppus, tells his story in Fahrenheit-182. A memoir that paints a vivid picture of what it was like to grow up in the 1980s as a latchkey kid hooked on punk rock, skateboards, and MTV; Mark Hoppus shares how he came of age and forms one of the biggest bands of his generation. Threaded through with the very human story of a constant battle with anxiety and Mark's public battle and triumph over cancer, Fahrenheit-182 is a delight for fans and also a funny, smart, and relatable memoir for anyone who has wanted to quit but kept going."

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