William Shatner and daughter Melanie reveal simultaneous stage 4 cancer diagnoses

Star Trek legend William Shatner and his daughter Melanie Shatner Gretsch both went through private battles with stage four cancer at the same time.

Canadian actor Shatner, 95, was diagnosed with stage 4 malignant melanoma that spread to his lungs and brain in 2023, while Gretsch, 61, had been diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer one year prior.

The pair opened up about their health battles in a joint interview with People, where they revealed they are now both fortunately cancer free.

“Chemo was the most physically draining, and the radiation I found so emotionally draining,” Gretsch said of her battle.

“I remember vividly thinking, ‘I don’t have the strength to take care of myself and lose my father at the same time.’”

But the actor remained strong in his own battle and supported his daughter.

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“We’re bonded by all kinds of difficulties that we’ve overcome,” Shatner proudly said of his family.

In April this year, Shatner was forced to hit back at rumours he had brain cancer.

“This is getting insane,” he said, after recently revealing he was due to have surgery for an injury after falling off a horse.

“My daughter came over to tell me her daughter heard that I had brain cancer. 🙄 She took this photo and sent it to me to upload to prove I’m not ill. 🤷

“The people who are ill are those that are spreading these ridiculous stories. I’m fit as a fiddle. You don’t have to worry. This is getting insane,” he said at the time.

He recently shed light on his health, revealing at the Saturn Awards that he fell off a horse and needed shoulder surgery.

“I ride the horses that can compete in equine skills, which is fast down and ends on a sliding stop,” he told media at the event.

“And the horse that I owned, I came off.

“She had a habit of going too far, like six inches to the side. And I’m riding it. And I’m ready. And she goes...

“I’m not a young stuntman anymore. I started to roll, but hit the dirt with my shoulder. So I wrecked my shoulder,” he said, adding he was set to have a “new type of shoulder operation called a reverse something or other”.