Gladys Knight clarifies her comment about having 'the same disease' as Aretha Franklin

Knight clarifies she is a breast cancer survivor

DETROIT – Gladys Knight, while speaking with Local 4 before Aretha Franklin's funeral on Friday, mentioned casually she "had the same disease" as Franklin.

Knight's claimed she and Franklin both had the same disease as she reached the end of a story she fondly shared, in which she and the Queen of Soul were in the same hotel and didn't know it. 

"At that time, we shared the fact that we had the same disease," Knight said.

Franklin died from pancreatic cancer of the neuroendocrine type on Aug. 16. It is unknown if this is the disease Knight shared with Franklin.

Knight's publicists denied any illness "that I know of," and was unable to reach out to Knight at the time due to her involvement in the funeral.

Speaking with TMZ Friday night, Gladys said, "I'd like to clarify that Aretha and I discussed both of us having cancer, mine was stage 1 breast cancer and hers was pancreatic. Due to early detection, I am cancer-free and grateful for that."

You can watch the full interview with Knight below.


About the Authors:

Paula Tutman is an Emmy award-winning journalist who came to Local 4 in 1992. She's married and the stepmother of three beautiful and brilliant daughters. Her personal philosophy in life, love and community is, "Do as much as you can possibly do, not as little as you can possibly get away with".