“The Young and the Restless” star Christian LeBlanc reveals cancer diagnosis after fans spotted tumor

Truth and fiction can blur in strange ways. After Michael Baldwin (the character long portrayed by Christian LeBlanc on The Young and the Restless) went through a battle with cancer on the show, LeBlanc ended up facing the disease in real life.

LeBlanc revealed that he recently had a bout with multiple myeloma, in an interview with New Orleans news station 4WWL. Thankfully, he's now in total remission. As with all cancers, it's easier to fight multiple myeloma the sooner it's caught — and LeBlanc got some help with identifying it from The Young and the Restless viewers.

"The fans caught it," LeBlanc said. "I was getting people saying, 'Your eye's a little Jim Carrey that way.'"

THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS
THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS

Monty Brinton/CBS via Getty Images Christian LeBlanc on 'The Young and the Restless.'

When LeBlanc first started experiencing symptoms on set, he wasn't sure what the issue was.

"They put my wedding ring on, Lauren and Michael's wedding ring, and I put my hand down and the ring fell off without friction," LeBlanc remembered. "I said, well, what an odd thing. My nose started bleeding on set. Sometimes this eye kind of got a little wonky, because there was a tumor in the sinus cavity. If I hadn't gone in for an eye exam, it might have progressed more. It's a very fast cancer and that is the danger of it."

Now that LeBlanc has recovered from his cancer bout, his first episode back on The Young and the Restless will be the Thanksgiving episode on Nov. 23.

Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more

Related content: