John Cena recently opened up about a skin cancer scare that the WWE legend had that forced him to reconsider how he looks after himself in the sun.
Speaking to People in a recent interview, Cena — who is the face of Neutrogena’s new Ultra Sheer Mineral Face Liquid Sunscreen SPF 70 campaign — opened up about how he would never use sunscreen, until a dermatologist found a cancerous spot on his skin during a checkup.
“It wasn’t until I went to a dermatologist and got a skin checkup and had a cancerous spot removed from my right pec,” said Cena. “I was very lucky to have a great dermatologist who kind of, I guess for lack of a better term, held me by the hand and let me know that I wasn’t alone. The stats on this are overwhelming, but as much as I learn about them, those numbers don’t mean anything.
“I think the best way to hammer home a point is human-to-human connection. And I as a human can tell you: Man, that phone call’s not what you want to get because it is unpredictable and you don’t know how bad it’s going to be.”
Cena revealed that he would go back in for another check-up and have another spot removed near his shoulder, “A year later I went back and had another spot removed close to my right shoulder. It shows up like a white polka dot on the side of my chest and on my shoulder. If you watch WWE, you’ll be able to see them,” the WWE star continued.
Ever since the scares, Cena says he’s taken a much more hands-on approach to skin care, and now looks back at the moments as reminders that it’s better to be safe than sorry when it comes to something as easy as using sunscreen.
“I’m at a great space in my life where that’s now important to me,” Cena said. “And I’m so grateful to be able to dodge those two bullets, but I wear them as a reminder of, ‘Hey man, you need to take the extra few seconds to protect yourself every day.”
