David Bowie kept his cancer battle private because he wanted the "minimum of fuss".
David Bowie
The 69-year-old singer died on Sunday (10.01.16) following an 18-month battle against the disease.
But theatre producer Robert Fox, who had been friends with the singer since 1974 and worked with him on musical Lazarus, said he was determined not to reveal his ill health.
He said: "Nobody knew ... Nobody even suggested there was anything. And then we woke up on Monday morning and it was on the news. I think that's the way he wanted it to be.
"He wanted the minimum of fuss. He was just a private man. And I think he wanted to protect his family from the insanity there would have been. It would have impinged on the album, Lazarus, his family, everyone would have been inundated at a time when he didn't need that or want that. And he did it perfectly."
David was last seen in public on December 12, as he attended the opening night of Lazarus in New York.
But Robert, who knew of the singer's illness, found it tough watching the musical while thinking about David's health battle.
He told The Telegraph newspaper: "It was odd watching Lazarus, the musical, for the first time on stage, knowing that David wasn't well, and seeing the show in that light, and knowing that the 200 other people in the audience, who did not know that, were seeing it in a different light.
"It's much clearer now with the loss of David because it's about this poor man who doesn't want to die, who wants to go back to his planet and find some resolution."
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