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Even though public figures spend their lives in the spotlight, many choose to keep life-changing events such as diagnoses from the public. Whether to protect their families, maintain their careers, or simply process the news on their own terms, these stars prioritize discretion over publicity.

Check out this gallery to discover which celebrities kept their serious illnesses a secret.

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Australian supermodel Elle Macpherson recently revealed that she was diagnosed with breast cancer seven years ago, and is thankfully now in remission. However, the surprise twist is that she refused traditional treatment in the form of chemotherapy against the advice of her doctors. Macpherson is releasing a new memoir titled 'Elle: Life, Lessons, and Learning to Trust Yourself,' in which she details her holistic healing journey. She says was advised by doctors to undergo a mastectomy with radiation, chemotherapy, and hormone therapy, followed by reconstructive surgery. Macpherson found this line of treatment too "extreme," and instead chose to hunker down in a house in Phoenix, Arizona, with a team of alternative medicine practitioners. Under the guidance of her primary doctor, she worked with a doctor of naturopathy, a holistic dentist, an osteopath, a chiropractor, and two therapists. Macpherson underwent this holistic treatment for eight months, although her adult children had mixed feelings.

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Jamie Foxx was hospitalized in April 2023 but didn't publicly address his medical issue until July. The actor shared a video to Instagram in which he thanked everyone who sent him well wishes and said vaguely, "I went through something that I thought I would never ever go through." Foxx explained that while he knew people wanted updates, he "didn't want people to see" him with tubes coming out of him, as he prefers being seen and remembered for his jokes, his movies, and his music.

He also set the record straight over some rumors that had spread. “As you can see, the eyes are working, the eyes are working just fine. I’m not paralyzed, but I went to hell and back, and my road to recovery had some potholes as well. But I’m coming back and I’m able to work,” he said.

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Kid Cudi opened up about his personal health struggles in an interview with Esquire. The rapper was struggling with severe depression in 2016 and decided to check himself into a rehab facility for his own safety. At the time, he wrote on Facebook, "If I didn't come here, I would've done something to myself." He explained that "anxiety and depression have ruled my life for as long as I can remember and I never leave the house because of it." While trying to regain his mental health, his physical health took a serious blow. Cudi suffered a serious stroke while in rehab which impact his ability to speak and move, requiring months of physical therapy.

The following year, Cudi auditioned for a role in the Broadway musical 'Lobby Hero' and finally felt like he'd recovered from the stroke. The fact that he successfully memorized all of his lines and completed the audition proved that he was capable again. "I needed that at the time. I was happy. Like, damn, my brain is still strong. I didn't lose something in that s*** that happened."

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Actress Emilia Clarke has opened up about the two brain aneurysms she suffered in her twenties that could easily have left her dead or unable to speak. Clarke wrote an essay for the New Yorker in 2019 where she first talked about her health scares, which occurred primarily in 2011 and 2013. She went into greater detail during an interview with the BBC in 2022. Clarke revealed that it's very rare for someone to survive the types of aneurysms she experienced. "The amount of my brain that is no longer usable — it's remarkable that I am able to speak, sometimes articulately, and live my life completely normally with absolutely no repercussions," she marveled. Clarke suffered her first brain aneurysm in 2011, shortly after production of the first season of 'Game of Thrones' had ended. She was struck with another one in 2013, and was strongly advised to undergo brain surgery by her doctors. Clarke felt like she didn't have time for the potentially life-saving surgery, but finally agreed. She was 24 years old. The surgery was successful and she hasn't had to go under the knife again since, but she revealed that there are large portions of her brain that no longer function.

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Actress Alicia Witt revealed on Instagram in June 2022 that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer, only sharing the news once she was celebrating the success of her treatments. The actress shared a series of photos of her journey as she underwent surgery and chemotherapy, writing, "Just a little over 2 months ago, i had my last round of chemical therapy prior to my mastectomy." Witt said that she had used a therapy cap to prevent hair loss, but not for aesthetic reasons. "While keeping hair was obviously the last of my concerns on a larger level, i did deeply wish to keep my diagnosis private until it was 100% healed."

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When actor Chadwick Boseman was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2016, he kept it private. He carried on working as an actor as well as supporting cancer charities.

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By 2020, Boseman's cancer had progressed and he sadly passed in August of that year. His final film 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom' (2020) was released posthumously to critical acclaim.

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After actor Gene Wilder passed away in August 2016, his family revealed that he had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease for the previous three years.

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According to his nephew, the 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory' (1971) star kept his condition a secret in order to protect his young fans, because "he simply couldn’t bear the idea of one less smile in the world."

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When the news broke of David Bowie's death in January 2016, the world was left reeling. Hardly anybody knew that he had been suffering from liver cancer for 18 months before his death.

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The iconic musician apparently told his loved ones that he wanted to go "without any fuss" and sources suggest his body was cremated without even family or friends present.

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In 2011, Apple cofounder Steve Jobs died from respiratory arrest as a result of a relapse of his pancreatic cancer. Sources suggest he had been battling the disease for nearly 20 years.

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Jobs's battle with pancreatic cancer was extremely private and very few people knew. Former Disney CEO Bob Iger is thought to be one exception to that.

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Nowadays it is common knowledge that Queen front man Freddie Mercury died of AIDS-related complications, but when he was suffering from the disease very few people knew.

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There were reports that the star was battling the disease, but he denied them all. The public and his fans knew nothing of his struggle, although the other band members were in on the secret.

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Queen Elizabeth II always did her best to maintain an appearance of good health, and there has been much speculation about her true cause of death. She passed away at the age of 96 in 2022 and her death certificate attributes it to "old age." However, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson claimed that she was suffering from bone cancer.

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Shortly after Robin Williams killed himself in 2014, his widow revealed that her husband had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in the period before his death.

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In her statement, she described how she felt that the diagnosis had been a factor in his death. An autopsy revealed, however, that Williams had been suffering from Lewy body dementia, not Parkinson's.

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The public was left shocked when news broke of Alan Rickman's death in January 2016. The 'Harry Potter' actor had kept his battle with cancer very much under wraps.

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Actor Bill Paterson spoke after Rickman's death about how he had "no inkling of the seriousness" of his death, despite having visited him just two weeks before.

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Acclaimed filmmaker Nora Ephron, who is best known for her romantic comedies, died in 2012 after a battle with cancer.

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The battle had apparently been a long one, although hardly anyone knew. Sources suggest even some of her closest friends were shocked to hear the news.

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Romance novelist Jackie Collins, whose books have sold over 500 million copies and have been translated into over 40 languages, died of breast cancer in 2015.

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Collins's death marked the end of her six-year battle with breast cancer. And yet sources suggest that no one knew of her diagnosis, apart from herself and her two daughters.

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Nowadays Michael J. Fox is one of the most vocal celebrity sufferers of Parkinson's disease. He is an important advocate for finding a cure for the neurological disease.

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However, sources suggest that he kept his diagnosis secret for years: he was apparently diagnosed as early as 1990, but did not share the news with his fans until 1998.

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In 2013, veteran actress Kathy Bates opened up about her battles with cancer. She had a double mastectomy after doctors found a tumor in 2012.

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She also survived a battle with ovarian cancer in 2003, which until 2013 she had kept from the public. She told the press that her experience in 2003 shaped her double mastectomy decision.

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Michael Douglas did not keep his cancer a complete secret, but he didn't let on quite how serious it was. At one point he was at risk of losing his tongue and jaw.

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The public knew that the actor was undergoing surgery to remove cancerous tumors, but he didn't reveal the severity of the situation until after he had recovered.

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In 2015, 'Two and a Half Men' star Charlie Sheen revealed on the 'Today' show that he is HIV positive. But the diagnosis was not new, as he'd already had it for four years.

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In the exclusive, Sheen said that he wanted to make the announcement to end the "barrage of attacks and of sub-truths and very harmful and mercurial stories that are about me."

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British actress and comedian Jennifer Saunders was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009, but she did not speak publicly about it until after she had recovered.

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The 'Absolutely Fabulous' and 'French and Saunders' star, who apparently always hid her chemo-related hair loss with a wig, told her story in her 2013 autobiography 'Bonkers: My Life in Laughs.'

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In 2015, singer Avril Lavigne revealed that she had recently recovered from a serious case of Lyme disease, which had kept her bedridden for five months.

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The 'Sk8er Boi' musician was apparently bitten by a tick at some point during the spring of 2014, and went on to suffer her serious case of Lyme disease in silence.

Sources: (Ranker) (People) (BBC) (EW)