Penny Lancaster shares heartbreaking Rod Stewart cancer confession

Penny Lancaster has revealed that she resorted to medication to manage the emotional distress caused by her husband Sir Rod Stewart's cancer diagnosis. Rod was informed he had prostate cancer in 2017, and the singer requested his wife Penny to keep his diagnosis confidential until he understood the required treatment and severity of his condition. Penny, aged 54, respected her husband's request, but the former model concedes that the lack of an outlet for her own anxiety and concern over his illness led her to seek medical assistance.

In October 2017, Penny publicly confessed that she had been a victim of sexual abuse during a discussion about the #MeToo movement on the daytime TV programme Loose Women. Penny believes that this past trauma resurfaced due to the stress of concealing Rod's cancer fight. During her appearance on Loose Women on Thursday (05.02. 26), Penny shared: "The hard bit was he said to me, 'Please, let's just keep this between you and me.' Of course I honoured that. I was the one talking to all the doctors, going through all the different options and helping him make that decision. Whereas, he wasn't burying his head, but he knew I've got to stay positive here, I'm not going to let this change my life, I'm going to continue being on tour, which was incredible because I really believe in positive thinking, to help you.

"It was about staying positive for him and keeping that smile on my face and going, 'We're going to sort this out.' Then it was like where do I put my feelings, my fears and my traumas about that whole thing. It was like putting a lid on a boiling pot, and in the end, something had to go.

"I remember I was on the panel and it was at the time of the #MeToo movement and out of nowhere, and I had never spoke about it, I talked about the sexual abuse situation that happened to me when I was younger and I buried for a long, long time. It was like something had to give, I suppose. I did seek some help, because trying to deal with that coming out and keeping Rod's diagnosis in, I did supplement my own strength with some medication to help balance things out.

"Once we did discuss it more publicly, I was able to wean myself and then cope; it was like treading water and feeling like I was going to drown."

Penny fully grasped why Rod, 81, wished to keep his cancer diagnosis private at the time, given his worldwide fame and the attention public disclosure would attract, as well as his desire to shield his eight children. Penny - who shares two sons, Alastair, 20, and Aiden, 14, with the Maggie May singer - explained: "You have a certain amount of control in your life whether you look after the hour or the kids or out on business, working, there's a sense of control in your life, and cancer takes away that control. I think the immediate reaction is I need to be in control, this is the only way I can do it".

"First of all you're thinking, 'What kind of cancer? How fast is it growing? Has it spread.' To inform your loved ones too soon can bring on undue stress."

In May 2000, Rod was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, undergoing surgery the same month and making a complete recovery.

Following his own cancer struggles, Rod has become a passionate campaigner for prostate cancer awareness, encouraging men to visit their GP and get screened. He has also personally funded MRI scans for patients in Britain to accelerate the cancer diagnosis process.