Khloé Kardashian reveals why she hid first skin cancer diagnosis from family

Khloé Kardashian was first diagnosed with melanoma – the most dangerous type of skin cancer – in 2003, and she initially did not tell her family.

Khloé Kardashian hid her first melanoma diagnosis from her family following her dad Robert Kardashian’s death.

Attorney and businessman Robert – who was also father to Kourtney Kardashian, 46, and Kim Kardashian, 44, and Rob Kardashian, 38, whom he had with ex-wife Kris Jenner, 69 – died in September 2003, aged 59, two months after he was diagnosed with cancer in his esophagus, when Khloé was aged 19.

Shortly after Robert’s sudden death, Khloé found out she had melanoma – the most dangerous type of skin cancer, which is primarily caused by ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun or sunbeds – but she kept it a secret because she “didn’t want to worry anyone” amidst her family’s grief.

Speaking on the latest episode of her Khloé in Wonderland podcast, the media personality recalled: “My first bout of skin cancer, I was 19 years old. When you’re 19, you don’t really think about how scary things can be, so I don’t remember a lot.

“I know my dad died when I was 19 of esophageal cancer, and then months later, I found out I had skin cancer on my back.

“I literally didn’t even tell my family because I knew I just had to get this removed, and I’ll be fine.

“I knew I was fine. Cancer is a really scary word. I was also 19, and you’re nuts at 19 years old.

“I literally drove myself to the doctor, got all this skin removed, and that was it. [I] didn’t think much about it.”

In October 2022, Khloé noticed she had a “bump” on her face, and she initially thought it was “cystic acne”.

The Kardashians star recounted: “I was convinced it was that cystic pimple. It would not go away. I was trying to pick it, all these things.

“I think I messed around with it for over a year. I got facials. I would ask this person, that person, no one thought it was weird, it was my same skin colour.

“I do have a lot of beauty marks all over me, but they’re brown. So I was like, ‘Gosh, maybe this is a skin colour mole.’ I didn’t know what it was.”

Khloé got a biopsy to check it out before it turned out to be melanoma again.

She added: “So we cut it out, and within days they found out it was melanoma. I sent it to my other dermatologist, they analysed it, because it’s on my face … where my cheek line is, they have to remove the tumour that’s there. You also have to take enough skin, like healthy skin, around it to make sure the cells didn’t spread.”

And Khloé got a “family friend” – who is a plastic surgeon – to treat it.

She said: “He removed the tumour, and the scary part is you don’t know how much they need to remove until they start cutting into you. They think they’re getting all the borders, but then they have to test it.

“We did it. Everything was perfect. He got all they needed the first time. So now I don’t have skin cancer.”