Montell Jordan reveals cancer has returned after having prostate removed last year

The Grammy-nominated artist hopes that sharing his story helps remove stigma around prostate cancer in Black men.

Montell Jordan is giving a less-than-ideal update on his health journey.

During a recent appearance on “Today,” the 56-year-old R&B singer revealed that nearly a year after undergoing a radical prostatectomy, his prostate cancer had returned.

“I always imagined I would be telling my prostate cancer story from the other side of prostate cancer because I had a radical prostatectomy surgery. My prostate was removed. There were clear margins,” Jordan said. “Close to a year post-prostatectomy, I still need to go back and have additional treatments because it’s [been] detected that there is still cancer.”

He explained that follow-up scans detected that the cancer had resurfaced, this time in his lymph nodes and in the prostate bed area, despite his prostate having been removed after he was first diagnosed in 2024.

In December of 2024, the “This Is How We Do It” singer first shared on social media that he was “lucky to be alive” after being diagnosed with Stage 1  prostate cancer at the beginning of the year. His diagnosis was later upgraded to Stage 2 due to its aggressive nature. He credited more than a decade of regular PSA testing for catching the disease early. 

“Early detection is the thing that allows me to have a choice to treat [my cancer] and live and to continue giving myself the best quality of life possible,” he told “Today.”  

Following his surgery, he thought he was out of the woods until his recent scans revealed otherwise. This time around, he will undergo proton radiation therapy five days a week for seven and a half weeks, in addition to taking hormone blockers to suppress testosterone, which fuels prostate cancer. 

“It is a seven-and-a-half week interruption of life to make sure that I have a longer life,” he noted. “I never knew there was such a thing as being a two-time cancer survivor, so that’s the journey that I’m on right now.”

Despite the current setback, Jordan is remaining optimistic. 

“I’ve already had a fantastic quality of life even following my prostate removal,” he continued. “So I believe that even after this next treatment that I have to do, it will eradicate the cancer from my body and still have a great quality of life moving forward.”

He’s choosing to open up about his journey in hopes of removing the stigma around prostate cancer, particularly for Black men, who face higher risks but are often hesitant to get screened.

“I’m trying to give a template for people that get diagnosed with this to … know they have options available to them,” he explained, adding that being present with your emotions is also an option. 

“It’s okay to cry. It’s okay to shake your fist at God. It’s okay to navigate and do what you need to do, but doing nothing is not an option,” he said.