William Shatner got candid about his daughter's emotional breast cancer battle and shared how his own health issues brought them closer together in an interview with On the Red Carpet. The Star Trek icon opened up about his 61-year-old daughter's fight against breast cancer, which was treated by a team of doctors at UCLA. "My daughter, who had breast cancer, stage four, is cured because of the luck of finding the doctor whose chemicals he invented 10 years ago were directly applied to this particular cancer. So she got through her cancer," he said.
He shares his youngest, Melanie Shatner Gretsch, with his ex-wife, Gloria Rand. The 94-year-old is also a father to Lisabeth and Leslie Shatner. In the interview, William touched on his own bill of health after surviving stage four melanoma and prostate cancer.
"I've had some illnesses. I don't want to discuss it now, but I'm aware of what it's like to have the magic of medicine dealing with cancer and age," he explained. "There is this combination between my daughter and myself that we can speak about 'How are you going to live longer?'"
William added that "the key to living longer is embedding yourself in life [and] to take advantage of every opportunity," before sharing, "You have to mix it up, to do something unusual, to do something different. That energy energizes your cells and keeps you young. That's the key to youth."
The actor has kept his past health battles largely private, yet shared insight into the moment he was diagnosed with melanoma with Healio. "It was melanoma, stage four. I said, 'Stage four?' And someone in the room said, 'Sorry.' I said, 'What are you sorry about?' It was like, 'Better pack your things.' That person who said 'sorry,' that was very sad, like you are going to die. And I was. They said if this [treatment] they used did not work, I had about five months."
© via Getty ImagesAs for Melanie, the mother of two underwent aggressive treatment to overcome her breast cancer, as she and her team revealed in a 2024 interview with UCLA Health. "Every time a doctor spoke to me, things were worse. It was very scary," she admitted. She endured 18-months of treatment, with the actress sharing that she "did the maximum" amount, and that "there is no more they could have thrown at me".
© WireImageMelanie underwent chemotherapy, surgery and radiation, before getting a double mastectomy. "I felt like I had so much physical trauma that I wanted to take the least traumatic route that had the least amount of things to follow up on," she said of her mastectomy decision. "I don't love that when getting dressed, it's always a consideration of what it looks like on me. It does feel like it takes some femininity away. It makes me sad sometimes, but I'm really glad to be alive."
© Getty ImagesMelanie added that she was on the road to recovery and felt "pretty strong, like pretty much myself" after 18 months of treatment. She shared that she was penning a memoir to help others going through a similar experience feel like they weren't alone on their journeys.
