‘Grey’s Anatomy’ star James Pickens Jr. reveals prostate cancer diagnosis and how it’s affected his family

“It’s not the kind of news anyone wants to hear,” Pickens said.

James Pickens Jr. has played one of the most beloved doctors on TV since 2005, but after “Grey’s Anatomy” made a shocking midseason revelation, Pickens is making one of his own.

The 71-year-old actor revealed he was diagnosed with prostate cancer– a battle his family knows all too well.

“It’s not the kind of news anyone wants to hear, but to be honest, prostate cancer has run through my family,” Pickens told Black Health Matters. “My father had it. He had a lot of brothers; several of them had it. I would have been surprised if I hadn’t gotten it.”

According to the Prostate Cancer Foundation, one in six Black men develops prostate cancer and is more than twice as likely to die from the disease. Prostate cancer is highly heritable and those factors cause up to 60 percent of prostate cancer risk. 

Despite that history, he remains optimistic about the development, citing other family members who’ve continued to thrive despite the diagnosis.

“I’ve got a 90-year-old first cousin—who’s still alive, actually—he had it,” he continued. “His son has it. A couple of his brothers had it. No one, as far as I know, has succumbed to it.”

Pickens’ character, Dr. Richard Webber, made a revelation of his own during the Nov. 13 episode of the long-running ABC medical drama, telling Dr. Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) that he had been diagnosed with cancer.

Still, Pickens is thankful for receiving the diagnosis early and that doctor’s caught the tumor before it spread anywhere else.

“I started getting my annual physical 34 years ago,” he told the outlet. “My urologist said, ‘Because you were so diligent in that piece of your health, it was to your advantage. We were able to catch it so early because you were being tested.”

Instead of radiology, Pickens opted for a radical prostatectomy, a surgery to take out part or all of the prostate gland. 

“We caught it really early, and so they thought that would be the best route to take.  I do have a rare variant that you don’t see very often. They wanted to err on the side of caution and keep an eye on it,” he said. “It was rare enough that they wanted to make sure that they were crossing all the T’s and dotting all their I’s. But they hadn’t seen one that was detected as early as mine.”

Several notable Black men have battled the cancer in recent years, from D’Angelo to Montell Jordan, Al Roker, Harry Belafonte and Colin Powell.