Tom Brokaw, former NBC News anchor, opens up about blood cancer: 'I've had a bad experience'

Former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw is opening up about his cancer battle.

The 83-year-old shared on "CBS Sunday Morning" that he's had "a bad experience" while battling multiple myeloma, a blood cancer.

"I've had a bad experience," Brokaw told longtime friend and "CBS Sunday Morning" host Jane Pauley of his illness. "I kept thinking bad things wouldn't happen to me. But as I grew older, I began to develop this condition. And what you try to do is control it as much as you can."

Brokaw was diagnosed in 2013 with the disease and continued working while he was being treated. He announced the cancer was in remission in 2014.

He announced his retirement from NBC after a 55-year career in January 2021.

"I've had to change my life in some way," he said. "I really had to give up my daily activity with NBC. You know, I had to walk away from them, as they were walking away from me. I just wasn't the same person. … And so, for the first time in my life, I was kind of out there, you know, in a place I had never been in my life."

Brokaw also reminisced about introducing Pauley to her now-husband, cartoonist Garry Trudeau, with his wife Meredith Lynn Auld.

"I said… 'Boy, Garry is really a good friend, he's at the office a lot,' " he said. "And Meredith said, 'It's not about you; he wants to meet Jane.' I said, 'Oh, I hadn't thought about that!'"

More: Tom Brokaw retires after legendary 55-year career at NBC News

Brokaw holds the distinction of being the only person to helm all of NBC News' three signature shows: "Today," "NBC Nightly News" and "Meet the Press." His first book, "The Greatest Generation," was a huge success, coining a name for the generation of Americans who lived through the Great Depression and fought in World War II.

Early in Brokaw's journalism career, he covered Robert F. Kennedy's assassination in 1968, and as NBC's chief White House correspondent, Watergate. He began hosting "Today" in 1976 and became anchor of "Nightly News" in 1983. He was an interim host of "Meet the Press" after longtime moderator Tim Russert's death in 2008.

In 2018, Brokaw denied accusations of sexual harassment made by two women, including former NBC and Fox News journalist Linda Vester, who said he made unwanted advances in the 1990s. Brokaw disputed the claims, and more than 60 NBC News colleagues, including Rachel Maddow, Kelly O'Donnell and Andrea Mitchell, signed a letter defending Brokaw's character.

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Contributing: Bill Keveney

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tom Brokaw, famed NBC News anchor, gets candid on blood cancer battle