Morrissey has undergone treatment for cancer.
“They have scraped cancerous tissues from me four times already, but who cares,” the former Smiths frontman said in an interview with Spanish newspaper El Mundo (via the Morrissey-Solo messageboard). “If I die, then I die. And if not, then I don’t.”
“Right now I feel good,” he continued.” I am aware that in recent photos I look unwell, but that is what illness does. I’m not going to worry about that, I’ll rest when I’m dead.”
While Morrissey, 55, has had to cancel a number of shows since the beginning of last year because of health issues, this is the first time he’s spoken publicly about cancer, reports the Guardian. The reasons for the cancellations have included a bleeding ulcer, double pneumonia, food poisoning and a respiratory infection.
The musician did not reveal what type of cancer he had been treated for.
Whatever health he’s in, the singer, who said he’s close to completing his first novel, is nearing the end with his music.
“I’m at an age when one should no longer be making music,” he said. “Many composers of classical music died at age 34. And I’m still here, and nobody knows what to do with me.”
The singer’s recent health scares don’t seem to have tempered his legendary temper one bit. In the same interview, Morrissey also took the chance to heap scorn on the Beckhams.
“I do not hate people, I am a kind and sensitive man, but I cannot stand David and Victoria Beckham,” he said. “The tragic importance that the British media give this couple is what has made us a nation of zombies. They are nothing, but their egos are abnormally overdeveloped.”