By Page Six | Created at 2026-07-22 13:27:09 | Updated at 2026-08-08 12:57:47
2 weeks ago
William Shatner and his daughter, Melanie Shatner Gretsch, revealed they battled stage 4 cancer at the same time.
The pair — who are both now cancer-free — said in a new interview with People that Gretsch, 61, was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer in 2022 after she discovered a lump in her breast.
A year later, Shatner, 95, learned he had stage 4 melanoma that had spread to his lungs and brain.
Gretsch said she underwent multiple rounds of chemo with HER2-targeted therapies, a double mastectomy and 30 radiation therapy treatments over the year and a half after her diagnosis.
But Gretsch admitted she was more concerned with Shatner’s health.
“I remember vividly thinking, ‘I don’t have the strength to take care of myself and lose my father at the same time,” she told the outlet.
Shatner explained that when Gretsch was close to finishing her treatment, he noticed a lump on his cheek that turned out to be a growing tumor.
The “Star Trek” icon had surgery to remove the tumor and then underwent two years of immunotherapy to target the cancer in his lungs and brain.
“We got the perfect doctors for her cancer and my cancer,” Shatner shared.
Gretsch, who has two children with husband Joel Gretsch, said her dad “wouldn’t stop his life” and ‘kept working and moving forward” during his cancer battle.
“Whenever he was home, Joel and I would bring dinner to him and watch movies, just always made sure that he’s not alone,” she recalled.
Gretsch also revealed Shatner ease her concerns about the cost of her cancer treatments.
“You said to me, ‘I do not want you to worry. Just send me the bills,’” Gretsch told Shatner in the interview. “Then you made me laugh so hard when I was still going to the doctor a year later. You said, ‘You’ve got to get well. We’re going to be in the poorhouse!’”
Shatner
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