Latest news with #DeLonge
Metro
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Blink-182's Mark Hoppus thought he 'deserved' cancer diagnosis
Blink-182's Mark Hoppus, along with his bandmates Tom DeLonge and Travis Barker, are known for their sense of humour, but his 2021 cancer diagnosis left him convinced he wouldn't make it. The co-founder and bassist for the group has released his first memoir, Fahrenheit-182, which details his formative years, including his parents' divorce, a lifelong battle with anxiety, and rise to fame in one of punk rock's biggest bands. But Hoppus, 53, was left feeling like he was 'burning from the inside out' from being diagnosed with stage 4 diffuse large B-cell lymphoma after discovering a lump in his neck in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. Speaking to Metro, the musician explained that after years of success with blink-182 and supergroup +44, he felt as if he 'deserved' his diagnosis. 'I thought that people would laugh, or would think that I deserved it, because that's how I felt,' he explained. 'I'd been lucky for so long, the band had been so lucky. We started off in a garage and went on to play amphitheatres, had number one records, everything you could hope for in a band had come true. 'This is the bill I pay, I thought. Everything balances out, all the good is getting balanced out by something bad.' Even sharing the news with the world didn't go to plan, after the singer made his treatment public when he accidentally shared a photo of himself on a chemo drip to his public Instagram Stories instead of to his close friends. Dosed up on medication after an infusion at the time, he explained: 'We were driving home and my publicist called and said it had been picked up and radio stations are talking about it. 'I called my friend who runs a radio station in Los Angeles and I wrote a statement while parked on the side of the road and listened as it was read out on air. 'I was like, 'Oh, this is my eulogy. It's happening in real time.'' Hoppus, who is now cancer free, discussed how his diagnosis healed his friendship with bandmate DeLonge. The relationship between the pair went through numerous separations, reconciliations, and significant changes in the height of the band's success. The duo were the two original founders of blink-182 in 1992, but DeLonge left the band in 2005 when the group went on an indefinite hiatus. He went on to form Angels & Airwaves before leaving the band in 2015. His second departure from the band further emphasised the growing divide between him and Hoppus. This time, the band replaced DeLonge with Matt Skiba, a member of the band Alkaline Trio. DeLonge went on to dedicate a large part of his career to becoming heavily involved in UFO research, founding an entertainment company named To the Stars Academy of Arts & Sciences which has aerospace and science divisions dedicated to ufology. After not speaking for several years, their relationship mended when Hoppus shared his cancer diagnosis. He told Metro: 'Writing in this book about the hardest times, like arguments with Tom or Tom quitting the band, I was trying to write fairly because I don't want to demonise him. 'He's not a bad person. Tom is an amazing person. He just gets distracted sometimes and that's what makes him great. He has these big dreams and big plans and he's willing to pivot at a moment's notice. One day he can just say, 'I wanna chase aliens'. That's what makes him great.' More Trending With an upcoming tour and festivals on the horizon, the future of the band is now looking brighter than ever after complicated break-ups which resulted in Hoppus and Barker 'hating DeLonge's guts' at one point. 'There's people that have been there since the 90s, there are people that maybe know All The Small Things and want to come to a show. I'd like to continue creating and just making art and being silly and having fun,' Hoppus told Metro. 'All I want do is play music and make Tom and Travis laugh.' Fahrenheit-182 by Mark Hoppus published by Sphere available in Hardback, eBook and audio £25 out now . If you or someone you care about has been diagnosed with cancer, Macmillan can offer support and information. You can contact their helpline on 0808 808 00 00 (7 days a week from 8am to 8pm), use their webchat service, or visit their site for more information. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: Experienced climber raising funds for cancer-stricken kids dies scaling mountain MORE: TV presenter James Whale, 73, reveals there's 'no cancer treatment he can have anymore' MORE: I was 11 when my parents were told to plan my funeral
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Mark Hoppus Reveals How His Cancer Diagnosis Helped Improve Relationship With Blink-182 Bandmates
During his cancer battle, Mark Hoppus' relationship with his Blink-182 bandmates Tom DeLonge and Travis Barker only grew stronger. 'I think that we're much more honest with each other. The communication is a lot better. We've set up boundaries of what we want to do,' Hoppus, 53, exclusively told Us Weekly ahead of the release of his memoir, Fahrenheit-182, which hits shelves on Tuesday, April 8. 'We really sat down and we're like, let's be the f***ing Beastie Boys and not do the stuff that people want us to do or expect us to do.' Hoppus added that now the trio are much more open about setting boundaries of the lines their group is and isn't willing to cross. 'If it's fun, yes, if it's not fun, no, no other conversation. If the three of us want to do something, that's all that matters. If the three of us don't want to do something, then that's all that matters,' he said. 'We do everything in our own time on our own terms, and that kind of commitment to one another has really helped through these last three years.' Travis Barker Reflects on 'Heaviness' of Strained Friendship With Blink-182 Bandmates In addition to improving their working dynamic, Hoppus, DeLonge and Barker's friendship has flourished as well. Hoppus explained that he and Barker, 49, not only text often but the drummer invites him out to his various events. Hoppus also shared that he and DeLonge, 49, talk 'all the time' and even 'send memes back and forth.' 'That's how we started and that's how I want to continue,' Hoppus told Us of his bond with Barker and DeLonge. 'It's just like we're friends that play in a band. We're not bandmates who became friends.' In June 2021, Hoppus revealed that he was undergoing treatment for cancer. Three months later, the bassist announced he was cancer-free but had to undergo screenings every six months to ensure the disease did not return. Before going through with chemotherapy, Hoppus confessed that he and his bandmates were not as close as they are now. 'The day before I started chemotherapy, Tom texted me a photo of him standing in front of a bunch of women in lingerie. It was for a music video that he was filming for Angels and Airwaves, and he said, 'Hey, just so you know, I'm still creating art over here with Angels and Airwaves.' And I replied, 'Ha ha, that's great. By the way, I need to tell you I have cancer. I start chemotherapy tomorrow,' and immediately my phone rang and it was Tom,' he recalled. 'It was the first time that I'd really spoken to him in years, but we didn't even talk about that. He's like, 'How are you feeling? What's going on? First of all, you're going to get through this. I'm going to help you get through this no matter what.'' After going through treatment, Hoppus shared that he 'does a lot less now' and keeps his inner circle 'small.' 'I am involved with far fewer people than I've ever been in my life. My circle of friends is small,' he reflected. 'My circle of people that I work with is small and I cherish every one of them, so that helps a lot. And when things get difficult, I talk to my wife, I talk to my bandmates, and that's really my support system.' When Hoppus wrote his memoir, which dives into the musician's personal life and Blink-182's glory days, he made sure that DeLonge and Barker got a copy as soon as he could. 'I got my first copy of the book a few days ago, and the first thing I did was called my managers and said, please make sure that we get copies to Tom and Travis as soon as possible so they can read it or ignore it or put it on a shelf and forget about it entirely,' he told Us. 'I want them to have it. They've been nothing but supportive.' One of the reasons Hoppus was inspired to write the book was a conversation he had with his therapist after getting diagnosed with cancer. Travis Barker Reflects on His Catastrophic Plane Crash in Trailer for Blink-182's New Album 'My therapist said, you should write how you're feeling and just write like nobody's ever going to read it. Just put it all on paper. Just start writing. It doesn't matter if you write a paragraph or a poem or a blah, whatever, just start writing,' he recalled. 'So I did and it was really cathartic and it really helped me through a very difficult time.' When Hoppus entered remission, his manager mentioned that he should write a book about his time in Blink-182. 'At first I was resistant because I was like, 'Who cares about me in my life?' But people love Blink and I love Blink, and I wanted to tell a story of Blink-182,' he said. 'Blink is my favorite band. Tom and Travis are my favorite musicians in the world. And so I wanted to share that joy and that love with the world and hopefully people like it and hopefully it's a cool story. Blink has gotten to do some really awesome things over the years and we've done some really cool stuff. So I wanted to tell that story.' Fahrenheit-182: A Memoir, from Dey Street Books, hits shelves on April 8. Dates for Hoppus' book tour are available now. Us Weekly's full interview with Hoppus about his book will be in the issue on newsstands later this week.
