Michael Bolton's daughters have opened up about the "weird" symptoms the star experienced before being diagnosed with brain cancer.
The singer-songwriter, 72, revealed he has been battling glioblastoma, a rare and aggressive form of brain cancer.
He underwent an emergency brain surgery in December 2023 for a brain tumor, announcing in January 2024 that while it had been "a success", he would be taking a break from touring for the rest of the year.
He revealed this week in an interview with People magazine that his specific diagnosis was glioblastoma, and while the surgery had removed the entire tumor - which is possible in just 30-40 percent of cases - his "short-term memory, speech and mobility have been impacted by his treatments".
Bolton revealed that at a year past his surgery, his doctors were in "monitoring" mode, as the recurrence rate for glioblastoma is around 90 percent.
He underwent a second brain surgery in January 2024 due to an infection, and finished radiation and chemotherapy in October, but undergoes MRI scans every two months to ensure the tumor has not returned - which, as of his latest scan in April - has not.
Now, his daughters have revealed the first signs they noticed something was amiss, in the fall of 2023.
They revealed that the family was enjoying a night of bowling when the Grammy Award-winner bowled out of turn several times.
His daughter Taryn, 45, revealed it was "super weird", explaining: "That was when we were like, ‘Something’s wrong with his brain.’
'Everything that happened was weird for him but not super alarming. When you look back at everything together … We missed so many things."
Earlier that same night, the family noticed another red flag, with Taryn explaining: "He fell out of his chair to the left, which is very unusual. He’s super athletic, and he doesn’t drink.
"So he fell, and we were like, ‘What just happened?’"
Bolton also began experiencing a "bad" headache the same weekend, which led to him visiting the hospital, where an MRI confirmed he had a brain tumor.
It was removed in its entirety during emergency surgery, and doctors confirmed around a week later that it was a glioblastoma, which affects approximately 15,000 American each year, according to the National Brain Tumor Society.
Prior to the diagnosis, Bolton's career was thriving, having recently performed a number of concert dates and appeared on The Masked Singer, as well as releasing an album in July 2023 and filming a cameo in the movie The Fabulous Four in October.
However, by mid-November, his performance on Richard Branson's Necker Island was hampered by a strange bout of balance issues and nausea, which Taryn and her sisters, Holly, 47, and Isa, 49, had put down to stress and exhaustion.
Taryn recalled: "Is this stress? Is this sleep? He’d been working nonstop that whole time. Traveling, doing shows, doing all of these things.
"We were like, he’s getting older, he’s tired, he’s stressed out. All of these things we sort of explained in a way, one by one."
According to Bolton’s neuro-oncologist, Dr. Ingo Mellinghoff of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, symptoms of a brain tumor often include sudden changes in personality, severe headaches, seizures, coordination issues, muscle weakness, and paralysis, as well as changes in speech patterns.
He emphasized that while it is extremely rare, symptoms should also be taken seriously if they are out of the ordinary, adding: "It’s really hard to put out the message of, ‘If you have a headache, think about brain cancer,’ because that’s so rare.
"Many of these symptoms are very nonspecific, so we have to be careful not scaring everyone."
Bolton is set to be continually monitored with MRIs every two months to keep an eye on any possible recurrence.