Health Issues Rebecca Crews Has Dealt With

Between the notoriously frugal Julius in "Everybody Hates Chris," the McDonald's-loving convict Cheeseburger Eddy in "The Longest Yard," and countless other roles, there's a good chance you've seen Terry Crews expertly chewing the scenery onscreen at some point. However, what you may not know is that Terry's wife, Rebecca Crews, also has quite the story to tell. Much has been written about the former NFL star's pornography addiction, which nearly destroyed Terry Crews' marriage. But the tragic health issues Rebecca Crews herself has had to deal with are arguably even more heartbreaking. 

In April 2020, the singer revealed that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer mere weeks prior. Rebecca's doctors fortunately caught the disease early, and were able to help her beat it by way of a double mastectomy. Nevertheless, the experience was a scary one for the Crews household, to say the very least. "Though it was Stage 1, you're overwhelmed with fear, like cancer is this all-consuming, all-powerful evil entity," the mother-of-five admitted to People at the time. Regarding how Terry handled the whole situation, she shared, "My husband has watched me go through a lot, but the look on his face [...] He looked at me like I was going to die." 

Rebecca elaborated, "He told me it felt like his insides were melting. I said, 'I need you to be strong for me,' and he said, 'Okay' and hugged me, but I think he needed that hug." Terry Crews opened up about Rebecca's breast cancer diagnosis during an appearance on "The Late Late Show with James Corden" in May 2020. "Our world kinda came crumbling down," the actor acknowledged. "But let me tell you something: My wife is a warrior. And she said, 'Hey, wait a minute. You know what? We're gonna fight.'"

During his aforementioned appearance on "The Late Late Show with James Corden," Terry Crews praised wife Rebecca Crews for her steadfast resolve and quick action with respect to addressing her breast cancer diagnosis. However, what makes the singer's tenacity even more impressive is the fact that she was secretly dealing with another serious illness at the time too. In April 2026, Rebecca revealed that she had actually been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease all the way back in 2015. "I hadn't slept in three days [due to the disease]. And I felt like I wanted to die," she confessed to People, while detailing one particularly rough bout of symptoms. Explaining her decision to finally go public with her diagnosis after 11 years, the mom-of-five reasoned, "I finally have some uplifting information to offer." 

More specifically, the fact that she had been undergoing an innovative new treatment known as a focused ultrasound. It was actually Terry who turned her onto the idea after scouring the internet for information. "I told her, 'Honey, I really think this will help you,'" the "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" star recalled. And while a permanent cure for Parkinson's still eludes doctors and scientists alike, Terry has made it clear that he's in this difficult journey with his wife for the long haul. 

"It hurts. It's definitely been hard to watch her on those days when I see her so worn out by this. We're going through this together," the actor said. A neurosurgery professor by the name of Dr. Vivek Buch remarked that while the treatment is still very new, Rebecca's involvement could prove vital to furthering research. "I think she did it for others as much as she did it for herself," he noted.