Country singer Toby Keith announced that he was battling stomach cancer.
He’s taking a break from music and focusing on chemo, radiation, and surgeries
Almost a year after his announcement, he shared a picture on Instagram which had fans worried
Country star Toby Keith worried his fans when he announced that he was taking a break from music to deal with his stomach cancer diagnosis in June 2022.
The singer said he was undergoing chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery and needed time to rest. Keith explained that he would use this time to get back on his feet and spend time with his family.
In December 2022, Keith made his first public appearance since announcing his diagnosis. The country star was positive that he would be back on stage soon.
However, he admitted that his body was strained.”It is pretty debilitating to have to go through all that, but as long as everything stays hunky-dory, then we will look at something good in the future,” he said.
How Does Toby Keith look now?
The “Red Solo Cup” singer shared a picture promoting children’s health on his Instagram, but this concerned fans due to his appearance
The singer had evidently lost weight, and many were worried about his cancer battle. Some found the weight loss concerning, while others thought Keith looked good.
Most commenters saw the drastic change in Keith’s appearance as worrying and reckoned that the stomach cancer was taking a toll on his body.
Some could not even bear the singer’s sight and wanted reassurance that he was fine. Nonetheless, his supporters are keeping him in their prayers and encouraging him to keep fighting. “Omg, I just saw this. He looks nothing like he once did. Ripping my heart out. I pray he pulls through this,” wrote a worried user.
To see Keith still smiling and doing his charitable work gave many fans hope that he would defeat cancer, even though it was so scary to see him in his new body that fans thought it was “disturbing.”
How Did Toby Meet His Wife Who Stands by His Side?
The road to becoming a hit-making country singer was not easy for Keith, but on his way up to the top, he met his wife, Tricia Lucus, who would end up being with him through thick and thin.
After the singer had graduated from college, he decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and do what he called “typical roughneck stuff.” Keith worked as an oil field worker and earned $50,000 a year.
When he was not hard at work, he and his band, Easy Money, would perform at different clubs around Oklahoma, and he met his wife in one of those gigs.
Lucus was 19 at the time, working as a secretary at an oil company, and Keith was 20. :Lucus confessed she loved what she saw and thought the country singer exuded the kind of confidence that filled up a room. “I thought she was great,” Keith likewise revealed.
The couple dated for three years before getting hitched in 1984. Keith was still working in the oil field then, but the industry dissolved, so he decided to take his music career more seriously.
While traveling for his gigs, Lucus would handle their creditors and take care of their family, but one thing Keith always did was assure his wife that he would be a big star one day. Lucus remembered him saying, “Trish, one of these days, my time is coming. Hang in there.”
Keith was not wrong; his breakthrough came when he resealed his debut album. One of the hit songs that came from it was” Should’ve Been a Cowboy,” which topped the charts and became one of the most-played songs in the 90s.
The album also brought him awards, but the success never got to Keith’s head. He knew his way up was difficult, so the accolades inspired him to work harder.
He never strived for superstar status; instead, the country star said, “You get too popular, and people get tired of you being on top. I’ve never had that superstar status. So my candle hasn’t burned out.”
Keith might have been a country sensation, but he did not neglect his family life and always tried to be romantic at home. But his wife needed to guide him on what she considered romantic.
Lucus credited her husband for buying her roses, but she always told him that roses lasted five days, and if he really wanted to make a lasting impact, he should surprise her with an outfit or take her out for dinner.
Now that her husband is a recording-breaking artist, with a reported net worth of $10 to $25 million and 40 racehorses, date nights can take different shapes, especially since the couple lives on a 160-acre farm outside Oklahoma, with an 8,500-sq.-ft. home and where the couple raised their daughters Shelley and Krystal, and son, Stelen.
The country star might have loved his busy life on the road, but it became much more difficult for him to leave his children after his father’s passing.
The couple raised successful children. Their oldest daughter Shelley is from Lucus’ previous relationship, whom Keith adopted immediately after tying the knot with his wife. Their second born, Krystal, followed in her father’s footsteps and is a singer and songwriter, signed to her father’s record label.
Stelen is also in the music industry but more behind the scenes. He owns a concert booking company called Nostalgic Nights.
