Country singer Justin Moore revealed that he experienced a cancer scare when doctors discovered the medical condition that left him with a “fat neck.”
The “Small Town USA” hitmaker, 42, said he initially feared the growth on his neck could be something more serious, but doctors determined it was benign fatty tissue — and advised against surgery that could’ve threatened his career.
“I’ve had some health issues. Nothing life-threatening, thankfully. I’ve got a – I don’t know if you can see this on my neck, I’m sure people think, ‘Golly, he’s been eatin’ good,’” Moore told Tracy Lawrence’s “TL’s Road House” podcast on Wednesday.
“We thought it was called a lipoma. But it’s just fat. It’s benign, thank God. And they told me it would be very, very difficult to do surgery, and it may affect my singing, and even my speaking voice.”
“It’s weird, it doesn’t affect me, I just look like a linebacker circa 1982, thick neck,” he joked.
Moore said he was relieved to learn the growth was benign, though he was initially disappointed to hear doctors could not simply remove it.
“My wife and I were walking out of the hospital when I had an MRI or something and they had told us, ‘Man, great news. It’s benign, but there’s really not anything we can do about it,’” he recalled.
“So I was kind of bummed out walking out of the hospital, cause at the time we didn’t know if it was cancer. We didn’t know what it was, you know, and of course your mind takes you to the worst possible places obviously.”
His wife, Kate, whom he married in 2007 and share four children, helped him put the diagnosis in perspective.
“And my wife looked at me, she goes, ‘If you just have a fat neck and you’re here for the next 50 years, then shut up and stop complaining,’” Moore said.
Moore sparked concern as he opened for Riley Green’s “As Good As It Gets Tour” in Virginia on August 8, when fans noticed the singer’s appearance, according to fan-recorded video on TikTok.
“okay can someone tell me if he is okay?” one person commented on the video.
“Hope he is ok his face looks swollen,” another posted.
“He looks so different,” a third user said.
Benign fatty growths can vary widely in size and location, though they are generally harmless and slow-growing, according to the Mayo Clinic.
The “Point at You” crooner admitted he had not been keeping up with his health before the scare, revealing that he had gone about 10 years without seeing a doctor until last year.
“I hadn’t gone to the doctor, up until last year, in probably 10 years … My grandfathers greatly influenced me, and they were the type that it’s like, if a limb’s hanging off and you’re working, you just kinda tape it back up and go for it, so I was the same way,” he said.
Podcast host Lawrence, 58, also joked that Moore could turn his new look into a nickname.
“Maybe we could come up with a name, like George Jones was called the Possum because he had beady little eyes. Maybe you can become the Chipmunk or something,” Lawrence said.
Moore, who hails from Poyen, Arkansas, has scored 11 No. 1s on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart and won the ACM Award for New Artist of the Year in 2014.
The country star stepped away from touring earlier this summer and spent 30 days in rehab after his drinking “got out of control,” he revealed during his July 9 show in Knoxville, Ill, People reported.
He is now back on the road, with shows scheduled in Westbury, NY, on Oct. 29 and Montclair, NJ, on Oct. 30.
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