Soul icon Aretha Franklin said in a magazine interview on Thursday that she is now “feeling great” after recent surgery. The 68-year-old “Respect” singer told Jet magazine she did not want to discuss media reports that she suffered from pancreatic cancer. “I don’t have to talk about my health with anybody other than my doctors. The problem has been resolved,” she said.
A monumental figure in American popular music, Franklin was discharged from a Detroit hospital in December after the surgery that she said was “successful.” It was first discovered she was ill in October when she canceled all her public appearances, but neither the singer nor her representatives have confirmed why she was sick.
Franklin dominated the soul landscape during the 1960s and 1970s with such songs as “Think,” “Respect” and “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.”