Photographer Mike Mora, the husband of two-time Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Kelis, has died after battling stomach cancer. He was 37.
Mora’s death was confirmed by a member of Kelis’ Red Light Management team, Steve Satterthwaite Entertainment Tonight reported. “Sadly, it’s true that Mike Mora has passed away,” Satterthwaite said. “We would ask all to respect Kelis and her family’s privacy as of right now. Thank you.”
Before the official confirmation, Mora’s death was announced by his friend Evan Ross on Monday. The actor/musician posted a photo of Mora on his Instagram page with the caption, “We lost a brother Yesterday. We will truly miss you, Mike. Thinking of some of the great times we all spent together.”
The post has since been deleted.
Mora and Kelis married in 2014. They share a son, Shepherd, 6, a one-year-old daughter, and were also raising Knight, 12, Kelis’ son with ex-husband Nas. Mora first disclosed his diagnosis of stomach cancer on his Instagram page last September.
In the post, Mora stated that he started feeling pain, loss of appetite, and pain in his back a year prior, and dismissed it as a different ailment. “I thought the whole time that I just had an ulcer,” Mora wrote. “With no idea what was about to come my way…here I was, in a hospital bed, during the middle of the pandemic. All alone.”
At the time, he stated that the cancer was at stage four and that he was opening up about it to help others and express gratitude to Kelis and their children.
“I am posting this because life is full of the most unexpected situations,” Mora wrote. “I never thought this could happen to me. At just 36, with 3 kiddos, and a wife that loves me. I want to be able to help those that might be experiencing something like this — a life-altering disease full of questions and doubt — maybe, hopefully. By showing that it’s possible to make it through.”
By October, Mora shared via Instagram that doctors gave him a grim prognosis, after informing him that he was suffering from gastric adenocarcinoma. “It was the worst diagnosis,” Mora said. “And they were scared for me. I asked how they were going to help me. They said they couldn’t do anything else for me.”
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