Martin Kemp shares heartbreaking reason he didn't get help for brain tumour

Martin Kemp has shared the moment he found out he had a brain tumour while working on the set of The Outer Limits. The 62 year old well-known actor and musician found himself portraying a professor Michael Deighton, who "discovered the formula for everlasting life".

However, his character begins to age at an accelerated rate but can't die. For this part, Martin had to don a bald cap with thin grey hair.

During this time, Martin noticed that the tumour, which was so large it looked like "looked like Ayers Rock", could still be seen even beneath the bald cap. While talking about this on the podcast FFS! My dad Is Martin Kemp, which he co-hosts with his son Roman, he disclosed that the tumour "stood up about an inch" at that phase, yet he didn't seek help right away.

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He told Roman: "Then, all of a sudden, it started to grow really fast. Within a couple of weeks, it went from being next to nothing to about an inch thick."

When questioned by Roman regarding why Martin allowed the tumour to develop, he responded: "Well, when you break your arm, you get that little bit of extra calcium that covers it and makes it a little bit stronger, right?

"So, my brain was reacting like that because inside was a big old massive tumour that was growing. The skull was protecting itself, so it became thicker and thicker and thicker; I didn't really leave it, I just didn't notice it. Within the two weeks, I was away in America shooting this thing called The Outer Limits and it had gone from millimetres thick to like about an inch."

Martin's wife Shirlie was the one who "warned" him about it. He let her in on the news of the tumour after he got back from the shoot and confessed that the thought of going to the hospital left him "petrified".

He added: "I kind of knew what it was. I kind of guessed that something bad was going on under my skull. (...) I was more apprehensive about getting admitted into a hospital and checking into the neurology ward because I was Martin Kemp because I was well known. I despised the attention. Detested the notion."

The Spandau Ballet bass player was unaware of any symptoms until the tumour was extracted surgically. His sense of smell made a return a year post-operation and designated it as the "only" symptom he experienced.

The tumour turned out to be the size of a grapefruit. He expressed that the tumour was the "luckiest thing to ever happen to him", stating he would have never discovered that another tumour was residing "right in the top" of his head otherwise.

Martin disclosed: "If he never found the big old grapefruit that was in there, if I never went to have the MRI done, he would never have seen the one in the middle until it was too late, and that would have killed me. So I always thought that the big old grapefruit in there was the luckiest thing that ever happened to me."