10 years ago, Johnny Ruffo won the hearts of Aussies across the country with his jovial personality, good looks and incredible stage presence on X Factor Australia.
A decade later, he is battling the biggest fight of his life… for the second time.
The former Home & Away star is ready to share his story – the good and the ugly – in a new memoir set to be released on August 30th.
The rags-to-riches memoir will delve into the life of the cheeky tradie who stole Australia’s hearts on The X Factor and Home and Away, then faced the biggest battle of his life: brain cancer.
A concreter with a cheeky smile and long-held passion for music, Johnny won millions of hearts and eventually placed third. Sony Music rushed to sign him up and he was offered a guest spot on Australia’s favourite soap, Home and Away, which turned into a three-year role.
But the sudden rise to fame took its toll. Johnny found it hard to resist the weekend-long parties, drugs, alcohol and fair-weather friends that came with the territory.
He had started suffering from severe headaches when his girlfriend, Tahnee, noticed something was also wrong with his speech. Johnny was rushed to hospital, where doctors prepped him for immediate surgery to deal with a 7-centimetre-long tumour. He was ultimately diagnosed with a rare brain cancer, with which – despite a period of remission – he still battles today.
But in a strange way Johnny thinks the cancer actually saved his life.
‘No Finish Line’ is available in stores from August 30th.
