LEN Goodman, the senior judge on “Dancing With the Stars,” has secretly undergone cancer surgery without telling anyone from the show.
Goodman was operated on earlier this month in London to remove a cancerous growth from his prostate, according to reports yesterday.
He was diagnosed with cancer last March, he said, but postponed the surgery until after the finale of “Dancing.”
“The doctors felt I wasn’t riddled with it and it wasn’t so far advanced that it was a life-or-death scenario,” he told The Mail on Sunday, a London newspaper.
“It takes a few weeks to get everything set up for the operation anyway, so I went ahead and did the show,” Goodman, 65, explained. “I had the surgery done as soon as I got back from America.”
Goodman says he informed only about “half a dozen people” about the diagnosis and the surgery, none of them connected with his two TV shows. (Goodman is also a judge on the British version of “Dancing” called “Strictly Come Dancing.”)
“I didn’t want to tell everyone. It’s not necessary to blabber it out to everyone,” said Goodman, downplaying the serious health threat.
The surgery, which was performed three weeks ago, was a complete success, he says.
“Everything is gorgeously good,” he said. “I will be back in September for sure,” he told The Mail.