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Topics: John Cena, Celebrity, Celebrity News, Cancer, Health
John Cena has spoken out about his skin cancer journey and says he now wants to 'hammer home' the importance of protecting your body to his fans.
As they say, prevention is better than cure - which is why the WWE legend has now become a 'mouthpiece to get people to use sunscreen'.
He admitted that he 'never' wore any protection on his skin while growing up in Massachusetts, while he continued to 'neglect' it well into adulthood when he moved to Florida.
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Now, Cena is urging others not to follow in his footsteps, as he has opened up about how he received 'some unfortunate news' regarding his health in recent years as a result of this oversight.
In a new interview with People, the Trainwreck star, 47, explained that he reckons his mum's priority was keeping him and his four brothers 'alive and healthy' rather than smothered in suncream when they were kids.
"She had her hands full for sure, so I certainly do not blame her," the wrestler, who is retiring from the ring at the end of the year, said. "And me being born in '77, this was kind of all new knowledge."
Cena said he 'fell in love with the sun' when he moved to Florida - which is aptly known as the 'Sunshine State' - in his early twenties, but still didn't recognise the importance of protecting his skin.
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In fact, he admits he 'neglected' it as he was too 'stubborn' to implement a suncream routine into his life.
"I also thought the problem would never reach me," he confessed. "And it's one of those things where I had a ton of exposure with minimal protection and it caught up with me."
Cena explained that he later went for a skin checkup with a dermatologist, where he was informed that he had a 'cancerous spot' on his right pec, which he later had surgically removed.
He then told of his panic after he received a call asking him to come back into the clinic and how he had another spot removed the following year - which he described as looking like a 'white polka dot' on his skin.
Explaining fans would be able to see the spots in footage of him on WWE, Cena continued: "I was very lucky to have a great dermatologist who kind of, I guess for lack of a better term, held me by the hand and let me know that I wasn't alone. The stats on this are overwhelming, but as much as I learn about them, those numbers don't mean anything.
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"I think the best way to hammer home a point is human-to-human connection. 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."
Cena's made of strong stuff, as those who have followed his wrestling career will know, but even he couldn't help his mind wandering to the 'worst-case scenario' when he received the news he had skin cancer.
But thankfully, his treatment was a success - and now, he's on a mission to get people to take a leaf out of his book and 'mass protect their skin', as he admitted he 'wanted the highest SPF' he could get his hands on in wake of his health scare.
"I'm at a great space in my life where [skincare] is now important to me," he added. "And I'm so grateful to be able to dodge those two bullets, but I wear [the scars] as a reminder of, ‘Hey man, you need to take the extra few seconds to protect yourself every day'."
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He's now partnering with Neutrogena for their 'Sunscreen You Can’t See’ campaign, as they reckoned he was the perfect man for the job as he could put a twist on his famous 'You can't see me' WWE tagline.
Cena said he only felt 'brave enough to share his story' with the brand halfway through filming and now he reckons it's time for a wider audience to hear about his skin cancer scare.
"Never once did I picture myself as the go-to person for a skincare campaign," he added.
"And just because I love what I do and have passion for what I do, and I'm so grateful to have the backing of such a dedicated audience for so long, a very unlikely spokesperson has been able to be a spokesperson for a skincare campaign. You never know who you're going to reach, right?"
It comes just weeks after comedian Katherine Ryan announced that she has been diagnosed with skin cancer for a second time.