Seinfeld star Michael Richards has revealed in a new memoir that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2018 and that surgery helped save his life.
The 74-year-old shared his health battle in his upcoming book Entrances and Exits, with an excerpt shared with People this week.
The actor, best known for playing Cosmo Kramer during Seinfeld’s nine-season run, said a routine checkup revealed high levels of PSA (prostate-specific antigen) in his blood. A diagnosis of stage 1 prostate cancer followed.
“I thought, well, this is my time. I’m ready to go,” he told the magazine about his cancer scare.
But he said his son came to mind just a few seconds later.
“I heard myself saying, ‘I’ve got a 9-year-old and I’d like to be around for him. Is there anyway I can get a little more life going?'”
His doctor recommended a surgery to remove the entire prostate.
Richards said the cancer had to be contained quickly.
“I had to go for the full surgery. If I hadn’t, I probably would have been dead in about eight months.”
The actor has mostly laid low after a racist tirade during a stand-up comedy set in 2006 effectively upended his career.
“I was immediately sorry the moment I said it onstage,” he told People.
Richards repeatedly called Black audience members the N-word after being interrupted by a heckler.
“I have nothing against Black people.
“The man who told me I wasn’t funny had just said what I’d been saying to myself for a while. I felt put down. I wanted to put him down.”
He said he doesn’t expect the public to forgive and forget the rant, which was caught on camera, but maintains he is “not racist.”
