Months after the passing of Fleetwood Mac keyboardist Christine McVie, her official cause of death has been revealed. While the details of her demise were not initially made public out of respect for her family's privacy, new information has now come to light.

Christine McVie's Actual Cause of Death: New Insights The Blast obtained a copy of McVie's official death certificate and will, which disclosed that the Fleetwood Mac singer had been diagnosed with a severe form of cancer prior to her death. However, the primary cause of her death was a massive ischemic stroke.

The document stated that she had a "metastatic malignancy of unknown primary origin." The National Cancer Institute explains that carcinoma of unknown primary is an uncommon condition in which cancer cells are detected, but the location where they originated cannot be identified.

Though cancer had affected McVie, it was the ischemic stroke that ultimately took her life, with cancer listed as a secondary cause on her death certificate. According to the American Stroke Association, an ischemic stroke occurs when a blood vessel supplying blood to the brain is blocked or obstructed, accounting for 87% of all stroke cases. Causes can include irregular heartbeat, heart valve issues, heart attack, blood-clotting disorders, blood vessel inflammation, or heart muscle infections.

Christine McVie's Health Struggles Prior to Her Death In the months leading up to her passing, McVie admitted that she was unable to tour with Fleetwood Mac due to her deteriorating health. "I don't feel physically up for it. I'm in quite bad health. I've got a chronic back problem, which debilitates me. I stand up to play the piano, so I don't know if I could actually physically do it. What's that saying? The mind is willing, but the flesh is weak," she told Rolling Stone.

At the time, her cancer diagnosis was not public knowledge, but several media outlets reported that she had been suffering from scoliosis.

Additionally, McVie battled drug addiction during the 1970s and 1980s when drug use was more commonplace. She discussed her struggles in the book "Fleetwood Mac on Fleetwood Mac: Interviews and Encounters." She recalled an incident when she stayed awake for three days and consumed so much of the white powder that she nearly experienced a heart attack. Eventually, McVie quit alcohol, drugs, and cigarettes, opting for nicotine gum as a substitute.