3. Larry King
In September 2017, the veteran interviewer revealed to PEOPLE magazine that he’d undergone surgery for lung cancer that July. “They said I was lucky and smart to get annual chest x-rays because lung cancer doesn’t give you any signs until it’s in late stages,” he told the magazine. “And by then it’s too late.” King, who is currently 84, smoked up to three packs a day before quitting after a heart attack in February 1987. In 2017, Larry King revealed that he recently underwent surgery for lung cancer.
“I never thought it would happen to me. I saw all the warnings, but I never paid attention. I loved smoking, but when I had the heart attack that February of 1987, I stopped that day and never reached for one again,” he said, “It was easy for me because I got scared to death.”