Mike Mora, Photographer & Husband of Singer Kelis, Dead At 37

The husband of Kelis, photographer Mike Mora, has died at 37 after a battle with stage 4 stomach cancer. He had first revealed the cancer diagnosis on Instagram only months earlier in September 2021.

Steve Satterthwaite of Red Light Management confirmed the news to ET. “Sadly, it’s true that Mike Mora has passed away.  We would ask all to respect Kelis and her family’s privacy as of right now,” he said, with no other details of the situation provided.

Mora first came down with symptoms a year before that in September 2020, when “the worst pain in my stomach started.” Symptoms also included “loss of appetite. Pain my back,” according to Mora. He revealed after extensive testing over six “very lonely” nights, they came back with the news of his cancer diagnosis, and that it had spread from his stomach to his lymph nodes as well.

“I am posting this because life is full of the most unexpected situations. I never thought this could happen to me. At just 36, with 3 kiddos, and a wife that loves me,” Mora added. His and Kelis’ third daughter, Galilee, was born just over two weeks before Mora’s diagnosis.

The photographer was born in New York, and was passionate and proficient in a variety of genres including portraiture, lifestyle and fine art photography. He later moved to Los Angeles where he married Kelis. The couple purchased and moved into a more remote farm in the Los Angeles area in 2020 that they had hoped to co-manage and produce their own crops.

Mora is survived by Kelis, their son Shepherd, 6, and daughter Galilee, one.