James Pickens Jr., who’s best known for playing Dr. Richard Webber in Grey’s Anatomy, shocked fans upon revealing his cancer diagnosis. What made the news even more unsettling was that his on-screen character’s cancer battle was revealed in the season 22 midseason finale. As fans grapple with the revelation, many are wondering whether or not James is leaving the show.
The actor spoke with BlackHealthMatters.com in November 2025 to discuss his illness.
“It’s not the kind of news anyone wants to hear, but to be honest, prostate cancer has run through my family,” James pointed out. “My father had it. He had a lot of brothers; several of them had it. I would have been surprised if I hadn’t gotten it. I’ve got a 90-year-old first cousin, who’s still alive, actually; he had it. His son has it. A couple of his brothers had it. No one, as far as I know, has succumbed to it.”
Below, Hollywood Life has the latest updates about James’ presence on Grey’s Anatomy.
Does James Pickens Jr. Actually Have Cancer? What Type He Has
Yes, as previously noted, James was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2024.
“We caught it really early, and so they thought that would be the best route to take,” the Ohio native told BlackHealthMatters.com. “I do have a rare variant that you don’t see very often. They wanted to err on the side of caution and keep an eye on it. It was rare enough that they wanted to make sure that they were crossing all the T’s and dotting all their I’s. But they hadn’t seen one that was detected as early as mine.”
During the interview, James recalled going back to the doctor and, “when my PSA numbers came back, my primary said, ‘Yeah, you know what? It’s ticked up some more. I want to send you back to the urologist.”
“The urologist looked at him and said,” Yeah, there’s something here. Let’s do an MRI,’ which we did, and it revealed, as he called it, something suspicious,” James elaborated. “They scheduled a biopsy, which revealed a tumor.”
Is James Pickens Jr. Leaving Grey’s Anatomy?
At the time of publication, James has not announced his departure from Grey’s Anatomy.
How Is James Pickens Jr. Doing With His Cancer Battle?
James appears to be managing his prostate cancer well. According to BlackHealthMatters, he underwent a prostatectomy to fight the disease, and he was hospitalized for about a day.
