Tabloid Baby's Person of The Year for 2008

Brett Hudson
Tabloid Baby's 2008 Person of The Year

“I want to show that when it comes to cancer,
there are alternatives, and recovery begins
when you take your destiny into your own hands.”

Thirty years ago, Brett Hudson was an "Apple Pie Hero," an All-American pop star with hit records, sold-out concert appearances, several television comedy series and starring roles in movies. As a third of The Hudson Brothers, he'd have no idea the kind of hero he'd become in 2008, as he shared the story of his battle with throat cancer and spread the news of treatments available to those who are able to look beyond the practices of the American medical and pharmaceutical establishments.


Brett Hudson is well-known in Hollywood. Everybody knows Brett Hudson. Since The Hudson Brothers hung up their guitars and matching sweaters in the early Eighties, he's forged a successful and influential career as a television and movie writer and producer. From the cult movie Hysterical to the sports comedy classic Cloud 9, from the landmark comedy series Offshore Television to his groundbreaking documentary work with Frozen Pictures, he's a skilled professional, visionary, mentor-- and one hell of a raconteur.

But it was his decision to seek alternative treatments after a cancer diagnosis in the summer of 2007 that led him on a course that's saving lives and giving hope to thousands of Americans who had been told that death was the only answer.

It began when he set about turning his ordeal into a documentary project. The Klinik tells an only-in-Hollywood story that is finally rubbing off on the rest of the country.

As it states on the project's website:

"...After weeks of grueling chemotherapy that shrunk his frame, took his hair, sapped his energy and wracked him with nausea that no medical marijuana could ease, all he could look forward to were brutal radiation treatments that would do irreparable damage to his body… possibly take his voice… or even kill him.

"And then he got a call from Cher.

"Yes, that Cher.

"Brett’s old friend from his days as a Seventies television star told him there was a better way. It wasn’t the American way. But it was a way that could kill his cancer-- and not kill him in the process. The treatment would be far more precise and less invasive than what is offered in the States. It would attack the tumor and not batter his body. Brett wouldn’t lose his taste buds, his larynx, or have to learn to swallow again...

"Days before he was set to be strapped to a table in Los Angeles for the first of seventy radiation blasts, Brett Hudson booked his trip. His destination: a small private hospital in a charming village at the foot of the Alps: The Klinik."


Key to his influence is a blog on that Klinik movie site, in which he shares his experiences, frustrations with insurance providers, medical treatments and progress-- and, beginning with a shocking installment on November 7th, his current radiation and chemotherapy regimens after additional cancer cells were detected.

All of this life-changing business happened to coincide-- and in fact, push along-- plans for an unexpected reunion of the Hudson Brothers. While brother Bill Hudson (Kate Hudson's dad) finished his first-ever solo album, Brett and brother Mark appeared at Beatles fans conventions in Las Vegas and Chicago. Mark told the legions of fans about Brett's fight, and within days he'd become a lightning rod for people across the country.

And even though Brett Hudson continues his recovery through a brutal regimen, he spends hours on the phone and online with strangers, leading them in directions they might never have expected or hoped for.

Talk about using your celebrity, influence and fame for doing good.

Check in with Brett Hudson's blog and watch for The Klinik.

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