According to a new report, Dustin Diamond ignored a ‘big lump’ on his neck before dying of cancer.
The 44-year-old The Saved By The Bell star died in Florida on Monday, just three weeks after being diagnosed with stage 4 small cell lung cancer.
Diamond’s girlfriend, Tash Jules, was by his side when he died – and it was she who insisted he had the big lump pulled out the previous month.
“He felt bad and he had a lump on his neck that he ignored,” Diamond manager Roger Paul told People on Tuesday.
“He was afraid of the public’s attention if he went to the hospital. But eventually his girlfriend takes him and the doctors confirm that it is cancer. ‘
According to new reports, Dustin Diamond ignored a ‘big lump’ on his neck before dying of cancer. The 44-year-old The Saved By The Bell star died in Florida on Monday, just three weeks after being diagnosed with stage 4 small cell lung cancer. He is pictured in 2016
Diamond did not share any social media photos of the lump, and the last image of the actor was a selfie that showed him in his hospital bed before his death.
The California-born actor first appeared as a beloved geek Sam ‘Screech’ Powers back in 1988, when he was just 11 years old. The actor tried for decades to escape the role that made him famous
Paul’s remarks reflect what Diamond’s friend Dan Block told The Sun last month following the sitcom’s shock cancer diagnosis.
“It started as a tumor on his neck – a large lump in his throat – and it was very visible,” Block told the tabloid newspaper.
“He was afraid someone would take it and post it online.”
Diamond did not share any social media photos of the lump, and the actor’s last known image was a selfie showing him in his hospital bed before his death.
Diamond felt bad in the weeks before his appointment to the hospital.
After being diagnosed with small cell lung carcinoma in early January, he underwent a round of chemotherapy and was optimistic despite the chance he faced.
‘Of course he was scared, but he tried to find the humor in it. “Dustin tried to be positive through everything – that’s who he was – but he was scared,” Paul told People on Tuesday.
‘He did chemo – he tried everything possible. But it did not work. ‘
The news of Diamond’s death on Monday led to an outpouring of grief from Saved By The Bell fans around the world, but the actor has been trying for decades to escape the role that made him famous.
Diamond (second from left) is seen on the red carpet in 1989 with his role players
Diamond was first cast as a sweet geek, Sam ‘Screech’ Powers, in 1988, when he was just 11 years old. Stephen Colbert initially auditioned for the role, but was unsuccessful.
The child star’s character was one of the most beloved in the super-popular sitcom, which was presented for four seasons.
Diamond spent his teens in the public spotlight, but he later revealed that the attention had a detrimental effect.
Full-time filming of the show was discontinued in 1992, when Diamond was just 16 years old. After that, he struggled to find roles where he was not typed as a Saved By The Bell style.
“I did not know what to do,” Diamond said in an interview with Oprah’s own network in 2013.
“It was hard to get jobs that were not things of Screech clones.”
In 2016, during an interview with Extra, he also said: ‘I’m proud of the work I did when I did it. It’s just, how do you get away from such a phenomenal role of this Screech character and break out of shape and do something else? ‘
“I auditioned and every time they would say, ‘Hey, we loved it, but we saw too much screaming in it. ‘Well, I can not change my bone structure, what do you want me to do?
Diamond became an instant hit when he played Screech in the super-popular sitcom, which aired four seasons. However, when he later auditioned for other roles, he found that he had become a typical playwright.
Diamond (left) is pictured with fellow stars Mark Gosselaar and Mario Lopez
The teenage god struggled with the fact that he reached a career before he even became an adult, and then fought drug abuse, legal dramas and money problems
‘The hardest thing about being a child star is giving up your childhood. You really do not get a childhood, ‘Diamond told OWN.
In 2009, he released an autobiography titled Behind The Bell in which he revealed that he had not gotten along with his co-stars, claiming that they had done drugs on set.
Diamond later claims that the book was written by a ghostwriter and that the allegations were ‘exaggerated’. He told the media that he was trying to get in touch with his old co-stars and to apologize.
Despite that, Diamond was not again invited to play in the program’s revival in 2020, which is now streaming on Peacock.
“We are aware that Dustin is not respected by most people,” his agent, Roger Paul, said Monday.
“He had a history of accidents, unfortunate events. We want the public to understand that he was not intentionally malicious. He, like the rest of those who acted and behaved badly, went through a lot of turmoil and sadness. ‘
Diamond was released in court in Port Washington, Wisconsin in 2015, after being convicted of two offenses as a result of a Baroque fight on Christmas Day in 2014
Although he was a major reason for the program’s success, Diamond’s career faltered in the wake of Saved By The Bell.
He later appeared in reality shows such as Celebrity Fit Club, Celebrity Boxing 2 and Celebrity Big Brother.
For the past few years, Diamond has also worked as a stand-up comedian.
In 2006 he released a sex band called Screeched-Saved by the Smell in which he directed and in which he apparently played. Diamond later claimed that it was not actually him in the video, and that it was a stuntman with his face on it.
“The sex tape is the thing I’m most ashamed of,” he said during the 2013 interview.
“You know, I definitely got money out of it, but it was not worth it to fall out. I mean people to this day, they look down on me. ‘
At Christmas 2014, Diamond got into a bar fight and allegedly stabbed a man in a town near Milwaukee. The following year, he was convicted of disorderly conduct and carrying a concealed weapon.
At Christmas 2014, Diamond got into a bar fight and allegedly stabbed a man in a town near Milwaukee. He was convicted the following year of disorderly conduct and carrying a concealed weapon.
He was sentenced to four months in prison and served three months.
Diamond later told Mario Lopez, his former co-star, who was then the host of Extra, that someone had beaten his then-fiancée Amanda Schutz while they were at Christmas. He said he took out his pocket knife to protect her.
When reloading Saved by the Bell, Diamond – unlike other original members – was not asked to return. The show aired in November 2020 on NBCUniversal’s new streaming service, Peacock.
Diamond experienced financial difficulties during his career and filed for bankruptcy in 2001.
He has also been sued several times for criminal charges and in negative proceedings due to missing mortgage payments.
He once made an extensive crowdfunding bid to save his home and sold T-shirts with his face to raise $ 250,000 dollars.
The back of the T-shirts reads ‘I paid $ 15.00 to save Screeech’s house’. The extra ‘e’ was apparently added to avoid copyright infringement.
Diamond has no children and is survived by his father and girlfriend.
He married Jennifer Misner in 2009, but they divorced in 2013. Misner apparently suffered a miscarriage when the two went out in 2004.
Diamond later became engaged to Schutz – the woman he said he protected when he stabbed the man in Wisconsin. It is unclear exactly when they divorced.
Another TV show: Diamond and Courtney Stodden on Celebrity Big Brother in Britain in 2013