Metallica bassist Jason Newsted reveals cancer battle for first time

Metallica bassist Jason Newsted has been declared “free and clear” after a battle with throat cancer.

The 63-year-old musician, who was a member of the Enter Sandman icons from 1986 to 2001, has publicly revealed his diagnosis for the first time, but confirmed that doctors caught the illness early and on May 8, 2025 he “underwent a procedure” to tackle the disease.

Appearing on the Let There Be Talk podcast, he said: “They took a bunch of s*** outta here and then they went in with lasers this way and took a bunch of s*** out.

“So the cavern inside my head is different than it was, but we got it early. And I got my ‘free and clear’ about three weeks ago. So I beat it.”

Jason played on some of Metallica’s biggest albums, including 1988’s …And Justice For All, their self-titled 1991 LP, 1996’s Load, the following year’s Reload, and 1998 record Garage Inc.

Since his cancer battle, the bassist has forced himself to “rest” and relax instead of pushing himself too far.

He explained: “I promised myself I was going to rest, and that was the first time I’ve done that in my life.

“I’m usually just on or off. And so I promised myself I was gonna take the gravity off and lay down for the right amount of hours.”

His health struggles also forced Jason to “stop smoking weed” and drinking alcohol, which he wouldn’t have done otherwise.

He added: “The great spirit got my attention and said, ‘That’s not good right now, man.’ And so it pulled me off it.

“And so now I’m more clear-headed than I’ve been in my entire adult life. And so there’s blessings within everything. The lemonade I’m making this summer, bro — mm. Sweet. Ooh.”

Jason previously insisted his sudden exit “enabled” Metallica to keep going, while frontman James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich have admitted they didn’t know how to deal with his departure.

Lars told Apple Music in 2021: “Jason is the only member of Metallica who has ever left willingly. And that in itself is a statistic.

“And the resentment from James and I was just so… ‘You can’t do that. You can only leave if we want you to leave’.

“And then we weren’t equipped at the time to do a deep dive into why he was leaving. So of course, now you can see 20 years later, it makes complete sense.”