Jon Batiste Cancels Multiple Shows Over “Personal Circumstances”

But recently, the Emmy Award-winning journalist—who was first diagnosed with leukemia in 2010 before relapsing in December 2021 and again during summer 2024—had a rare breakthrough.

“Then a good day unexpectedly appeared last week—a day when I felt surprisingly well, all things considered—and I found myself standing in it, blinking,” she added, “wondering whether to garden or finally answer the backlog of emails or have a friend over for dinner.”

Batiste previously detailed how he and Jaouad are navigating this journey as a team.

“It’s just a process,” he told E! News in March 2025. “It goes through these different moments of treatments that are indefinite for her, it won’t stop. It will continue until there’s some innovation. We know that.” 

And until then, he’s standing firm by Jaouad’s side.

“Sometimes the cancer will be gone,” he continued, “other times, we’ll have to deal with what comes when it comes back and that’s just a part of our life. I support her in that.”