Ronnie Wood has opened up about his secret battle with cancer during lockdown. Thankfully, the Rolling Stones star has since been given the all-clear.

Speaking to The Sun, the 73-year-old rocker - who has previously fought lung cancer - revealed he was recently diagnosed with a rare form of aggressive cancer called small-cell cancer.

"I've had cancer two different ways now," he explained. "I had lung cancer in 2017 and I had a small cell more recently that I fought in the last lockdown." 

Of his approach to battling the disease, Ronnie added: "I'm going through a lot of problems now, but throughout my recovery, you have to let it go. And when you hand the outcome over to your higher power, that is a magic thing."

ronnie wood

He continued: "All I can do is stay positive in my attitude, be strong and fight it, and the rest is up to my higher power."

According to Cancer.gov, small cell lung cancer is a disease in which malignant cells form in the tissues of the lung. There are two main types of small cell lung cancer. Smoking is the major risk factor for small cell lung cancer.

Ronnie successfully fought lung cancer back in 2017 after 54 years of smoking 25 to 30 cigarettes a day. The former fast-living musician had an operation to remove the tumour and was later given the all-clear.

At the time, his wife Sally spoke to HELLO! about his diagnosis. "Ronnie's cancer was huge for us and showed you can't control what happens in your life," she said in September 2017.

"We dealt with it over a short space of time, but many people aren't as fortunate as us; they go through it for years.

"Ronnie's very focused on his health, which compared to his past is a massive turnaround. He doesn't smoke or drink and neither do I."

She added: "To keep himself on this path he reads a lot of meditation books - they're by the bed, in the car, at his studio, and on his Kindle - and are very important to him for motivation and spiritual inspiration. He reads a page a day and will often say: 'Sall, this is a good one; have a read of that.'"