By Michaela Gordoni
John Cena’s revealing that he learned to wear sunscreen the hard way — after a skin cancer diagnosis.
The WWE champ told PEOPLE last month that when he moved from Massachusetts to Florida in his 20s, he “fell in love with the sun” but “neglected” his skin.
“I was stubborn. I didn’t want to have a routine and I also thought the problem would never reach me,” he explained. “And it’s one of those things where I had a ton of exposure with minimal protection and it caught up with me.”
Eventually, he went for a checkup at the dermatologist and got a cancerous spot removed from his chest.
After that, he got a call from the doctor’s office. “You got to come back in,” they said.
He was grateful that his dermatologist was alongside him during his skin cancer journey.
“The stats on this are overwhelming, but as much as I learn about them, those numbers don’t mean anything,” he said. “I think the best way to hammer home a point is human-to-human connection. And I as a human can tell you: Man, that phone call’s not what you want to get because it is unpredictable and you don’t know how bad it’s going to be.”
“A year later I went back and had another spot removed close to my right shoulder. It shows up like a white polka dot on the side of my chest and on my shoulder,” the wrestler continued. “If you watch WWE, you’ll be able to see them.”
Not always as tough as he looks, Cena confessed that when he faces scary situations, his mind imagines the worst outcomes. Despite that, he tries to overcome it and puts his best foot forward.
Today he says, “I’m so grateful to be able to dodge those two bullets, but I wear them as a reminder of, ‘Hey man, you need to take the extra few seconds to protect yourself every day.”
He wants to remind others that applying sunscreen should be a daily habit when you step outside.
“If you’re out there and you brush your teeth, at a young age you learned that going to the dentist when your teeth are in bad shape is bad because it’s painful,” Cena explained. “The same thing will happen if you don’t take care of your skin, and it’s actually easier than brushing your teeth. Because it’s not something you should exercise to just make you look more beautiful.”
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“It’s something you should exercise to allow you to be who you are for a longer period of time. We all love to get out there on a sunny day and enjoy what the world has to offer,” he continued.
Now a full-fledged believer in sunscreen, Cena just joined Neutrogena’s “Sunscreen You Can’t See” campaign to promote its new Ultra Sheer Sunscreen product.
The campaign name and wrestler couldn’t be a more perfect match — Screen Rant explains there’s a long-running joke that John Cena is invisible, since he taunted another wrestler years ago, saying, “You can’t see me” and consequently became a meme.
By turning his own experience into a powerful message, Cena reminds us that while you might not “see” sun damage, it doesn’t mean it’s not there. So don’t hesitate to slap on that sunscreen next time you go outside.
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