Ex-W.A.S.P. Guitarist CHRIS HOLMES Opens Up About His Prostate Cancer Battle: 'The Good Thing Is It's 100% Curable'

In a new interview with Canada's The Metal Voice, former W.A.S.P. guitarist Chris Holmes discussed his decision to launch a GoFundMe campaign seeking financial support to cover the cost of his latest cancer treatment.

The 68-year-old Holmes, who has lived in Cannes with his wife since 2014, recently began chemotherapy in France for prostate cancer, just four years after undergoing treatment for throat and neck cancer.

Regarding how he received his prostate cancer diagnosis, Chris said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "What happened was last February [of 2025] I went in for the check on my throat, to the doctor here [in France], the throat doctor. And I told him about a year ago, 'Hey,' I go, 'Hey, doc, I've been kind of like whizzing weird. And I wake up three, four times a night, whiz, go right back to sleep. Wake up. It's weird. I have never done that.' And I go, 'I think I got a problem down there.' And he goes, 'Ah, you're just getting old. That's just your prostate.' And for a year I just was, like, 'I'm just getting old. And that's okay.' And then I went in. They did a scan. They did a full body, all the way down past my knees this time. Usually they just do the neck to see if the cancer from my throat's coming back. And this time then I went in to see him and he goes… I went in and I thought he was gonna go, 'Chris, everything's cool. We'll see you next year.' And he goes, 'Everything's not cool.' He showed it up on a screen, he goes, 'See that? You got prostate cancer.' I go, 'Damn!' My dad had it, and they say it's hereditary or whatever. And the good thing is it's 100% curable. It's just going through what I gotta go through."

Explaining why he decided to go public with his prostate cancer battle after initially keeping it a secret, Holmes said: "[TESLA bassist and Chris's bandmate in T3RMINAL] Brian Wheat and I and everybody, we tried to keep it quiet because we didn't want the word cancer and this and that. It's bad, 'cause we just think T3RMINAL, it's gonna break out next year, hopefully. I had a [solo] concert [scheduled for] Wales this month. I had one, but I can't go. But what happened is I went in and did a biopsy. They wanted me to pay for it, which wasn't cheap. And we were, like, 'Well, we're gonna get it on the insurance.' And [my wife] goes, 'Okay, then we'll work it out then when you find out,' blah, blah, blah. Well, months go by. They come in and find out that it's a cancer. They gotta take care of it, whatever. And then the insurance thing came in. They only give me emergency insurance, which only pays for the radiation. That's it. Not for any of the scans, not the medicine, not traveling to the hospital, whatever. So anyway, that happens, and then about maybe last month, [my wife] and I were sitting here. We were adding up everything to see if we can get through the year, and we just went, 'There's no way we're gonna get close. There's no possible way.' And so I called up Brian. I go, 'I need to do a GoFundMe. It's the only way I'm gonna make it through.' And it's helping me, so I won't be kissing the credit card company and having to claim bankruptcy. I've never done that. But it's okay. I'm getting through it. A lot of people are donating, helping me out. I appreciate it."

Asked if he thinks that going through the throat issue and that whole thing had psychologically helped prepare him to go through his prostate cancer battle, Chris said: "Definitely. I know getting on the machine that you go inside and it does the radiation, I've done that with my throat. I did seven weeks of that. At first they were gonna make me do five weeks. And I was supposed to start in May, and then they pushed it back to June, then they pushed it to July. And I was worried about, if it was gonna metastasize. The doctor said, 'No, if you're doing a hormonal therapy, it won't.' So I started doing it last month, and I've done three weeks. And it's a little harder than getting on the table and putting a mask on that goes around your chest and then goes up, 'cause it's on your waist. So they put two tattoo marks, one by my wiener, one by my belly button and one on each side. And you get on the table, and then the computer has lasers on the side. They line you up, and then you go in… It X-rays you and it pulls you out, and then it calibrates how the mechanism, how it shoots the radiation. You can hear it… And then you go in and it starts the treatment. It takes about six to eight minutes, each run… But I've done three weeks. I got five more [weeks] to go. Every day, except Saturday and Sunday."

Chris's wife Catherine said in a post on GoFundMe that his cancer "treatment is essential and cannot be interrupted. Because of an administrative error linked to our marriage registration, the health insurance system placed Chris under 'emergency only' coverage," she explained.

Chris was forced to "wait three months before receiving any care at all, and only the radiotherapy given during the month of July is covered," Catherine revealed. "Everything else falls to us," she added, listing hormone therapy, scans and PET scans, biopsies, blood tests, and daily trips to and from the hospital.

Catherine went on to say that the bills have accumulated, leaving them "€20,000 in medical debt," with "treatment ahead" set to "keep adding to it every month.

"Chris must remain in France to receive radiotherapy. Leaving the country would risk his emergency status lapsing, so he cannot travel and therefore cannot work," Catherine said. "Chris has given everything to his music and to the people who listen to it. It is his whole life. Today we cannot carry this alone."

She expressed gratitude to France for "granting the emergency coverage that allowed Chris to begin radiotherapy. Now we ask, humbly, for help covering everything else."

The GoFundMe goal is set to €50,000. So far, nearly €25,000 has been donated.

This past April, Holmes canceled his previously announced tour of the United Kingdom and Scandinavia, scheduled for May 2026. A week after it was announced by the social media of The Abyss club in Gothenburg, Sweden, where Holmes was scheduled to perform on May 27, that the musician was scrapping his shows in May "due to health issues that require immediate attention", his wife said that the shows were called off due to "a minor prostate issue" which was "already being taken care of." She added that Chris would "be back on his feet and on stage soon."

After Holmes was diagnosed with throat and neck cancer in February 2022, he immediately postponed his touring commitments while he received treatment. He completed seven weeks of radiation therapy and five months later, he shared the good news with fans that his cancer was "gone".

Holmes joined W.A.S.P. in 1982 and remained with the group until 1990. In 1996, the guitarist returned to W.A.S.P. and stayed with the band until 2001. Chris has not played with W.A.S.P. since.

In 2021, Holmes told SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" that W.A.S.P. was "a group, a band" on the first LP. "And after that, the second album, it wasn't a group — it was a one-man show," he said. "And it's been a one-man show after that ever since. It's the way it is. Look at the records. It's the way it is in that band."

According to Chris, he, guitarist Randy Piper, drummer Tony Richards and Blackie Lawless were all part of W.A.S.P. initial management contract, but Blackie was the only one signed to the record label. "Everybody thinks we [all] signed to the label, but it wasn't [like that]," Holmes told "Trunk Nation".

Despite the fact that he only got songwriting credit on a couple of the songs on each of the first four W.A.S.P. records, Holmes was adamant that his input was essential to the band's overall sound."If I would have quit after the first album, the way I play guitar, the way I play is really important to writing those songs," he told "Trunk Nation".

"If I hadn't joined in the beginning, it would have never worked. Blackie told me that the first day, when he came and talked to me to play in W.A.S.P. He says, 'I've got this band. It's not gonna work unless you're in it.' He told me that to my face."

In February 2022, Lawless shot down Holmes's claim that the guitarist was "screwed" out of receiving royalties on the W.A.S.P. albums that he performed on. Lawless discussed Holmes's tenure with W.A.S.P. in an interview with "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk". Asked to respond to Holmes's assertion in Chris's documentary "Mean Man: The Story Of Chris Holmes" that he was financially taken advantage of during his time in the band, Lawless said: "I don't really know much about… I spoke to [former W.A.S.P. guitarist] Randy Piper a couple of years ago. I don't really know what's going on with the rest of the guys. And I'm not sure exactly what you're talking about with Chris about not being paid.

"Chris, at two different points in his musical career, received settlements from this band; he signed documents as such," Blackie explained. "And he was paid quite well.

"I haven't seen what you're talking about. The answer I'm giving you right now is based on what you just said to me."

The W.A.S.P. frontman went on to confirm that he hasn't seen Chris's documentary and was once again asked about Holmes's claim that there is money and songwriting credits that he didn't get that he's due. Lawless said simply: "That is not true."

During a November 2017 press conference in Moscow, Russia, Lawless was asked what he would say to those W.A.S.P. fans who continue to call for the band to reunite with Holmes. He responded: "People get divorced for certain reasons, and there's times when the kids want the parents to get back together, but sometimes it never happens. And this is one of those [times]. Sorry."