She’s known for her big voice and even bigger personality – a larger-than-life presence that has endeared her to millions of fans around the world. But behind the scenes, singer/songwriter Anastacia has contended with a series of major health struggles dating back to her teenage years.
WATCH: Anastacia performs Gangsta’s Paradise on The Masked Singer Australia as the Vampire
Now 55, the performer of local ARIA chart-topping hits ‘I’m Outta Love’ and ‘Left Outside Alone’ encountered her first significant medical battle at age 13 when she was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease.
Her small intestines were removed, which resulted in a four-inch scar on her abdomen – something she learned to embrace.
“When I got my Crohn’s scar – across the middle of my stomach – I thought that I would never have a boyfriend and no-one would ever love me,” the star revealed about her decades of health issues in an interview with Britain’s Daily Express.
“But those feelings of fragility didn’t last long, and from day one in the business, I never covered up my scar.”
Indeed, when the American singer first launched onto the scene in 2000 with debut album Not That Kind, her distinctive look included daring midriff-bearing tops that allowed her to proudly show off the mark.
Anastacia has always been open about her medical struggles, including her diagnosis with breast cancer in 2003 while her music career was thriving.
The disease was discovered during a routine mammogram ahead of an elective breast reduction procedure, and she quickly had surgery and radiotherapy to fight the cancer.
Although with treatment sending her into remission, Anastacia’s health crises weren’t over. At 39, it was found she had a heart condition called supraventricular tachycardia.
“The doctors say that it’s a weakness triggered by stress,” she shared with Hello at the time. “I’ll be sitting and chatting and suddenly my heart will beat like I’m running a marathon.”
And in 2013, a more aggressive form of cancer returned. As a result, she underwent a double mastectomy.
“[That operation] was really tough for me to bounce back from,” she told The Guardian in 2021. “Doctors removed muscles from my back to rebuild my breasts, so some postures are difficult, and I have terrible neck issues.”
Anastacia would be forgiven if her health battles had got the better of her, but she remains upbeat about all her life experiences.
“Some people don’t just have health struggles, they have life struggles, they have work struggles, they have financial struggles,” she told the Daily Express.
“I have had all of them, many different times over, but the reason why I got through them much faster is … I believe in positive affirmation and positive thinking and a brighter tomorrow, and that philosophy can get you through a negative situation much easier.”
That optimistic outlook has also seen her through several relationship breakdowns throughout her time in the spotlight, including the end of her marriage to former bodyguard Wayne Newton, who she wed in 2007 and divorced in 2010.
Both her health struggles and personal life upsets have informed Anastacia’s music, with the singer taking time to regain her vocal strength following her initial cancer treatment and songs like ‘Pendulum’ from her 2014 album, Resurrection, being written about her divorce.
“I think I lost a bit of myself for a while. My career got so busy I’d be thinking: ‘Who the hell I am?’” she told the Daily Mail back in 2014. “I used to believe in happy-ever-afters. Now, I have a bit more of a realistic approach”
Even so, the star concedes she has “never given up”. “I just realised I didn’t want to be the whinger and I hope when all is said and done that’s how people will remember me,” she told the Daily Express.
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
