Martin Kemp, 62, reveals he has already planned his funeral and tells son Roman his one request as he predicts he has 10 years left to live after surviving two brain tumours
Martin Kemp has revealed what kind of funeral he would like – after predicting he has 10 years to live.
The Spandau Ballet bassist, 62, was diagnosed with two brain tumors in the 1990s and had to undergo radiotherapy and surgery to have them removed.
And he recently told his son Roman, 31, that the diagnosis had made him “resign himself to the fact that I was going to die.”
Speaking on the first episode of his and Roman’s podcast FFS! My father is Martin KempAptly titled Death, Martin and Roman were candid about the subject.
At one point Roman asked Martin how long he thinks he will live. Martin replies: ‘I’ll be very honest with you, 10 years.’
Martin Kemp has revealed what kind of funeral he would like – after predicting he has 10 years to live
Speaking on the first episode of his and Roman’s podcast FFS! My Dad Is Martin Kemp, aptly titled Death, Martin and Roman got candid about the subject (seen together)
And elsewhere in the podcast episode, the father-son duo discussed what kind of funeral Martin would want.
He talked about how he would like the ceremony to take place in a church, with ’80s singers playing tunes as people arrived.
Martin added that he would like 20 to 30 people to attend – including his wife Shirlie Holliman – and that he would like a montage of the best moments of his life to play as part of the service.
However, he made one thing very clear to Roman: that he didn’t want the occasion to be sad.
He explained, “But don’t make it sad, don’t go near sad, make it funny, tell jokes, sad is the last thing I would ever want.”
In the episode, Martin told his son Roman that his previous brain tumor diagnoses made him “resigned to the fact that I was going to die.”
Although the benign growths were successfully removed and have not recurred, Martin continued to battle epilepsy as a side effect.
Martin explained, “I don’t know how long I have left, but I’ll tell you, since I was 34, when I went through all that fear of brain tumors, I spent two years of my life thinking I was going to die.
“And I think after that, everything else, every day, every year, every month I’ve lived, every experience I’ve had has been a bonus.
He talked about how he would like the ceremony to take place in a church, with ’80s singers playing tunes as people arrived
However, he made one thing very clear to Roman: that he didn’t want the occasion to be sad. He explained: ‘But don’t make it sad, don’t go near sad, make it funny, tell jokes, sad is the last thing I would ever want’
Martin added that he would like 20 to 30 people to attend – including his wife Shirlie Holliman, and that he would like a montage of the best moments of his life to play out as part of the service.
The Spandau Ballet bassist, 62, was diagnosed with two brain tumors in the 1990s and had to undergo radiotherapy and surgery to have them removed
And he recently told his son Roman, 31, that the diagnosis made him ‘resigned to the fact that I was going to die’ (seen together)
‘I was practically resigned to the fact that I was going to die, but I was very happy with my fate because I had lived through the most incredible experiences.’
Martin reiterated: ‘By the time I was 34 and I thought I was going to die, I thought about it for two years, I was quite happy, I thought, “If I go, you know what? What a life” and that was then. So every year I live, every month I live now, is like a bonus.”
He told his son that he would “be happy if I live to be 80, that gives me 18 years!”
The star revealed that EastEnders approached him with the role of Steve Owen in the middle of his recovery, when he was still struggling with his brain function.
Martin recalled on the Dish podcast in 2022: ‘Everyone around me said, “Don’t do it, don’t do it. It’s going to ruin your career, don’t do it.”
“Well, because they hadn’t had big-name actors on that show before, right? Everyone had grown up with EastEnders, so I was kind of the first of those name actors to go in.”
Martin explained his hesitation, saying, “My brain still wasn’t working properly after the surgery. To the point where sometimes when I wanted to walk to the left, I would walk to the right, or I couldn’t remember to put things in order, or something like that.
‘Learning lines were simply far away there. When I was offered EastEnders it was a chance for me to get over it, so it wasn’t just me who took EastEnders because I thought, yeah, it was a good gig – I was trying to get my life back on track.
As fans of the soap will know, Martin has succeeded; his villainous character’s period from 1998 to 2002 is still highly regarded today.
Speaking about his treatment in 2009, Martin said: ‘The first tumor was the size of a crushed grapefruit and doctors were able to cut through my skull to get to it.’
‘What was scary was the second tumor; doctors avoided talking about it. I was very concerned about the little man in the middle of my head.”
Martin accepted his now infamous role as Steve Owen on EastEnders when he was at the height of his epilepsy battle after the tumors (with on-screen wife Tamzin Outhwaite in 1998)
Martin explained: “I don’t know how long I have left, but I’ll tell you, since I was 34, when I went through all that fear of brain tumors, I spent two years of my life thinking I was going to die.”
‘After two years the doctors said it was growing and they wanted to cut it out. But my wife didn’t want me to have the surgery because it would cause so much collateral damage.
“She found a doctor who said it could be attacked with radiation, with an early form of Gamma Knife technology.
‘Within six months of treatment there were signs that the disease was dying off, and today there is nothing left.’
FFS! My Dad Is Martin Kemp airs on Mondays on all podcast streaming services and on Saturdays on YouTube.