Former NBC “Today” co-host Bryant Gumbel revealed while guest-hosting for Regis Philbin on ABC’s “Live with Regis & Kelly” Tuesday that he recently had surgery for lung cancer. Gumbel had been keeping the personal news secret, but revealed it to Kelly Ripa before his second day as co-host.
Ripa told the audience that Gumbel had revealed something backstage that made her “almost faint.” Ripa said she had been discussing her excitement about working out on the show with guest Julianne Hough of ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” when Gumbel said he could not participate due to his recent surgery.
“It’s nothing to hide from. They opened up my chest, they took a malignant tumor and they took part of my lung and they took some other goodies. And the pathology on most of the stuff had been benign, but enough aggressive cells had escaped the tumor that it warranted some treatment and I went through that and it’s done now,” Gumbel said.
