Barry Manilow, 82, Makes Sad Death Confession After Lung Cancer Diagnosis: 'There's Part of Me That Isn't Here'

Barry Manilow is not the same after his lung cancer diagnosis.

In an interview published on Tuesday, March 24, the 82-year-old singer made a sad confession about death while admitting his medical battle made him lose a part of himself.

“You just don’t even think about [how fragile life is]. And suddenly, you have lung cancer. But I’m still here. I’m not all here; there’s part of me that isn’t here — they took out a part of me, and now I’ve got to figure out, ‘What do I do?’” he revealed.

Manilow announced his cancer diagnosis in December 2025 after getting an MRI on his lungs.

“If he hadn’t done that, man ... [The doctor] saved my life, because there’s no symptoms for what I had. I could go on, nothing hurt — but they found the dot in my lung,” he recalled. “They called me and said, ‘Could be cancer.’ That’s a bad word. ‘Not me. F--- you. I can’t have cancer.’”

Doctors didn’t know how long Manilow’s cancer had been present in his body.

“It could have been years,” the artist expressed. “If it had gone any further, then I would be up s---’s creek. It just so happened that it hadn’t spread, and boy oh boy, I thought I might be dying.”

Manilow “doesn’t remember” the “nightmare” lobectomy he experienced to remove the infected spot on his lung.

“I’m one of the lucky ones; I don’t have to have chemo, radiation and all that stuff,” he said.

Manilow — who releases a new album, What a Time, in June — is taking full advantage of his talents now that he is cancer-free.

“It has really, really made me take stock of my life. This made me stop and think about: Have I done what I wanted to do, and have I made people happy? Have I been a good friend? All of those cornball things that I’ve read for all of my life, I started to think about that, too. It really did stop me in my tracks,” he admitted. “And the answers are yes. And as a matter of fact, there are more yeses than I ever thought.”

Manilow continued, “[Cancer] really rocked me, but I’m getting stronger.”

The “Copacabana” singer initially shocked the world with a December 22, 2025, Instagram post announcing he was undergoing lung surgery.

“As many of you know I recently went through six weeks of bronchitis followed by a relapse of another five weeks. Even though I was over the bronchitis and back on stage at the Westgate Las Vegas, my wonderful doctor ordered an MRI just to make sure that everything was OK,” he explained at the time. “The MRI discovered a cancerous spot on my left lung that needs to be removed. It's pure luck (and a great doctor) that it was found so early. That's the good news.”

Manilow added, “The doctors do not believe it has spread and I'm taking tests to confirm their diagnosis. So, that's it. No chemo. No radiation. Just chicken soup and I Love Lucy reruns. The only follow-up is a month to recover and that means we have to reschedule the January arena concerts.”