HEALTHWWE Superstar John Cena Reveals Past Skin Cancer Diagnosis After Soaking Up the Sun: 'It Caught Up With Me'
WWE star John Cena opened up about a past skin cancer diagnosis from years of neglecting SPF.
March 31 2025, Published 11:17 a.m. ET
Even wrestlers need to take care of their skin.
When he's not tackling his opponents, WWE superstar John Cena is busy tending to his complexion due to a past skin cancer diagnosis.
WWE star John Cena opened up about a past skin cancer diagnosis from years of neglecting SPF.
Cena, 47, grew up in a small town in Massachusetts and vividly remembers not wearing sunscreen. His mom, Carol, was too busy raising five boys to enforce SPF, and when the athlete moved to Florida, nothing changed when it came to taking care of his skin.
"I was stubborn," he admitted to People. "I didn't want to have a routine and I also thought the problem would never reach me. And it's one of those things where I had a ton of exposure with minimal protection and it caught up with me."
John Cena was previously diagnosed with skin cancer.
He didn't see his skin mistreatment as an issue until a dermatologist removed a cancerous spot from his right pec. One year later, he had another mark near his shoulder taken off.
According to the American Academy of Dermatology Association, approximately 9,500 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with skin cancer every day. The wrestler credited his dermatologist for coaching him through his recovery.
"The stats on this are overwhelming, but as much as I learn about them, those numbers don't mean anything. I think the best way to hammer home a point is human-to-human connection," said Cena. "And I as a human can tell you: Man, that phone call's not what you want to get because it is unpredictable and you don't know how bad it's going to be."
John Cena is partnering with Neutrogena on a sunscreen campaign.
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The wrestling star likened using SPF to taking care of your teeth.
"If you're out there and you brush your teeth, at a young age you learned that going to the dentist when your teeth are in bad shape is bad because it's painful," he explained. "The same thing will happen if you don't take care of your skin, and it's actually easier than brushing your teeth...just take that one extra step and brush your teeth and put on some Neutrogena Ultra Sheer, and you'll be able to get a lot more days of doing that."
John Cena announced his plans to retire from wrestling in July 2024.
Cena — who announced his plan to retire from the ring in July 2024 — is now a skin cancer advocate and teaming up with Neutrogena for their "Sunscreen You Can’t See" campaign.
Ironically, the 16-Time World Champion is known for being invisible when wrestling, taunting his opponents with the phrase, "You can't see me." The beauty brand's new initiative echoes Cena's signature phrase with its Ultra Sheer Mineral Face Liquid Sunscreen SPF 70, which has an invisible sheen.
John Cena is known for being invisible in the ring.
In a promotional video for the campaign, Cena sat down with a dermatologist, who pretended she couldn't see him as she's explaining the product.
Another commercial showed two fans expressing they "bet he's at home boiling his biceps" when the athlete is really next to them applying sunscreen.
