Lifestyle Health Sheryl Crow: My Brain Tumor May Be Related to Cell Phone Use Doctors won't confirm the benign tumor was caused by the phone, but the singer thinks they are related By Charlotte Triggs Charlotte Triggs Charlotte Triggs is a digital leader and veteran journalist with 20 years experience working in celebrity and general interest news. She is currently SVP and General Manager for PEOPLE. People Editorial Guidelines and Marla Lehner Marla Lehner Marla Lehner is the former west coast news director at PEOPLE. She left PEOPLE in 2013. People Editorial Guidelines Updated on December 2, 2020 01:25AM EST Photo: Bryan Steffy/Wireimage Sheryl Crow suspects that the benign brain tumor she has may have been caused by her cell phone. “There are no doctors that will confirm that,” Crow, 50, said Monday while appearing on the premiere of Katie, the new syndicated talk show hosted by Katie Couric. “[But] I do have the theory that it’s possible that it’s related to that. I [used to spend] hours on the old archaic cell phones.” Crow, who says the tumor is in a part of her brain near where she often held her phone, says she started to suspect something was wrong when she began spacing out on stage, forgetting lyrics and generally feeling “mushy.” “I [was] worried I had an early [onset] Alzheimer’s,” she confesses. Many around her downplayed the symptoms, saying it was normal for a busy mom of two young sons to feel that way. In the end, Crow says the non-cancerous tumor is “nothing I have to worry about,” but, for the breast cancer survivor finding out she had a tumor was “definitely a sobering moment.” Close