Chad Kroeger on his wife Avril Lavigne's illness: 'She asked me not to talk about it'

Rocker Chad Kroeger, of Nickelback fame, has revealed that he was proud of wife Avril Lavigne for speaking out about her battle with Lyme disease because it means they no longer have to hide it from the world.

During a new interview with KIIS FM's Australian radio show Kyle & Jackie O this morning (April 8), the hitmaker explained that it was a relief when she decided to open up about her illness:

"I'm like, 'OK, the wife has come out and said this and now I don't have to keep hiding... with everyone going, 'What's wrong with your wife...', and me just going, 'Ah, she's gonna be fine'. I'm like, 'OK, I can talk about this now'."

He went onto add that Lavigne specifically asked him not to talk about her diagnosis to the press: "She said, 'Can you do me a favour? When you do all your interviews, can you not talk about it'... (But) things are looking up and definitely getting better."

Lavigne, meanwhile, recently told Billboard that she will be releasing a song about her struggle with the disease before the year is out: "This is all happening organically — I wasn’t thinking, ‘Oh, when am I going to make a record?’ It just happened. I wrote a song, and I want to release that song this year too, because it’s about my battle and the fight that I’ve had to put up.”

Watch Kroeger and Lavigne's video for their collaborative single here: