The reality star was diagnosed with an early stage brain tumor in July and underwent surgery in August.

Bachelorette alum Joe Amabile reveals brain surgery scar: ‘Coming along pretty nicely’

The reality star was diagnosed with an early stage brain tumor in July and underwent surgery in August.

By Marina Watts

Marina Watts

Marina Watts is a news writer for with seven years experience covering entertainment, pop culture and celebrity news. Her previous work appears in PEOPLE, Bustle and Newsweek.

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September 11, 2026 12:10 p.m. ET

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Joe Amabile in West Hollywood in April 2024; Joe Amabile via Instagram. Credit:

Anna Webber/Getty; Joe Amabile/Instagram

- Joe Amabile shared a health update after undergoing brain surgery weeks earlier.

- The *Bachelor Nation *personality showed off how the scar on the top of his head is healing, including progression pictures from post-surgery and after the staples were removed.

- In July, Amabile revealed that he was diagnosed with an early-stage brain tumor the size of a blueberry.

Joe Amabile is on the road to recovery.

The *Bachelorette** *alum, affectionately known as “Grocery Store Joe,” showed off his scar weeks after he underwent brain surgery to remove a tumor. He posted a carousel of Instagram photos on Wednesday, which featured a closer look at the top of his head.

“I feel like my scar is coming along pretty nicely,” Amabile captioned the post, which featured close-ups of the top of his head right after surgery, along with before and after staples were removed.

He also leaned into the “scar” theme of the post with a picture of a slice of pizza from the Lower East Side pizza parlor Scarr’s Pizza.

Joe Amabile/Instagram

Amabile has been open about his recent health journey. In July, he announced that he was diagnosed with an early-stage brain tumor and would undergo surgery. The reality star said he “had to go get a brain MRI, and there was a blueberry-sized lesion in my brain that looks to be a glioma, which is a tumor.”

“I think it’s one of those things where you’re like, ‘Oh, something like this will never happen to me’ — and here I am,” he said at the time. “They say it’s really early stages. I hope they are able to get it all, and I’m fine.”

‘Bachelorette’ alum Joe Amabile details symptoms amid brain tumor diagnosis

‘Bachelorette’ alum Joe Amabile says he continues to ‘struggle’ with speech after brain surgery

“I’m doing my best to stay positive during this time and am lucky to have a lot of support from family and friends,” Amabile captioned his Instagram clip.

“I’ve gone back and forth about what I wanted to share on social media but ultimately this is now part of my life now, so might as well. Onto a new journey.”

The former reality star underwent surgery on Aug. 6 at New York City’s renowned Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. “They got it all!” he captioned an Instagram update which included photos from his hospital room.

His wife, fellow *Bachelor Nation* star and *Not Married to This* podcast cohost Serena Pitt, shared her own statement post-surgery on her Instagram Stories.

Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt.

Joe Amabile/Instagram

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“The best update: they were able to remove the entire tumor and Joe is recovering really well,” she shared alongside a photo of the couple holding hands in a hospital bed. “We’re feeling so grateful🤍.”

A week post-surgery, he gave fans an update on Instagram and said things were “going well,” noting, “Recovery has been better than even I expected and I’m a pretty positive person.” In the clip, Amabile said he “struggled at the beginning with speaking, just like knowing what to say but not being able to say it, and then just pain, obviously.”

He added that he was no longer taking “Oxy and all painkillers” but took a Tylenol occasionally for any discomfort.

Joe Amabile after brain surgery.

Joe Amabile/Instagram

He also shared his official prognosis, which he said was “fairly good.”

“I do have an astrocytoma, but it’s very low-grade. They did get the whole thing. When it comes to malignant brain tumors, they don’t know what’s left over, so I will be going on treatment, which is just a pill every day for the rest of my life to put the bad cells to sleep, and hopefully they stay asleep.”

Amabile shared a video on Aug. 18 of him getting 23 stapes removed from his head. “It feels kinda like nothing,” he said as the removal went underway. “It doesn’t feel like anything.”

Later that month, he stopped by *Good Morning America** *to give a health update. “I would say I’m about 90 percent back,” Amabile admitted, “but I still struggle a little bit.”

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