Grey’s Anatomy star James Pickens Jr. has gone public with his prostate cancer battle in hopes of encouraging other men to get tested.
After his character, Dr. Richard Webber, revealed he had cancer on the Thursday, Nov. 13 episode of the ABC series, Pickens delivered a public service announcement about the importance of testing at the end of the episode.
“I’m living proof that early detection works,” he told viewers in the PSA.
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The actor opened up about his own cancer journey in a new interview with Black Health Matters.
“It’s not the kind of news anyone wants to hear, but to be honest, prostate cancer has run through my family. 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,” Pickens told the publication.
The 73-year-old actor noted that his family members all caught the disease early and it saved their lives.
“I’ve got a 90-year-old first cousin, who’s still alive, actually, he had it. His son has it. A couple of his brothers had it. No one, as far as I know, has succumbed to it,” Pickens shared.
Because the disease runs in his family, he has been diligent about getting PSA or Prostate Specific Antigen tests.
“I started getting my annual physical 34 years ago. And I started my PSA testing when I was 41. I’m 73 now,” he explained.
The Ohio native has starred on Grey’s Anatomy for two decades — from 2005 to 2025. He’s taken home an NAACP Image Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award for his work on the series.
In addition to Grey’s, he’s had roles on The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder; The Conners; and Station 19 in recent years.
Despite his busy schedule, he makes sure to get regular physical exams.
In 2024, his doctor detected something unusual and referred him to a urologist. Further testing found everything was normal, but the urologist suggested he return for more tests in a year.
“I went back in January, and when my PSA numbers came back, my primary said, ‘Yeah, you know what? It’s ticked up some more. I want to send you back to the urologist.” Pickens recalled.
They did a biopsy and found cancer.
“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,'” the actor said.
Pickens chose to have a radical prostatectomy to remove the tumor.
“We caught it really early, and so they thought that would be the best route to take,” the actor said.
According to the Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF), there are more than 3 million men in the U.S. living with prostate cancer.
The organization says 1 in 6 Black men will develop the disease and are twice as likely to die from it.
But when caught early, there’s a 99 percent survival rate over five years.
The medical community suggests men with a family history of the disease start talking to their doctors about PSA screenings around age 40.
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