LeBlanc's character on the long-running soap opera, Michael Baldwin, had cancer on the show.
The Young and the Restless star Christian LeBlanc says his fans are to thank for spotting his cancer before he ever got a diagnosis.
The actor, 65, who has portrayed Michael Baldwin on the soap opera for more than 30 years, recently told WWL-TV that eagle-eyed viewers were among the first to bring attention to the tumor that was later found in his sinus cavity.
"The fans caught it," LeBlanc told the New Orleans outlet. "I was getting people saying, 'Your eye's a little Jim Carrey that way.'"
In the show, LeBlanc's character at one point was diagnosed with prostate cancer after exhibiting symptoms that led to the shocking reveal. Similarly, the daytime television star said signs were present in real life, including on-set incidents such as nosebleeds and sudden costuming issues.
"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," he recalled. "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," LeBlanc said.
The actor was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that forms in plasma cells and builds up in a person's bone marrow.
"It's a very common cancer, which, but again, it's like you don't think of a pink elephant. Now that I hear about myeloma, you hear it everywhere," he shared.
LeBlanc said he was officially diagnosed in June at a hospital in Southern California, which also marked his first-ever hospital stay.
Thanks to the fans and his doctors, the actor is currently in remission and will return to The Young and the Restless on Nov. 23.
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