Saved By The Bell star Dustin Diamond diagnosed with stage four cancer

Dustin Diamond played Screech on Saved By The Bell. Photo / Getty Images

Dustin Diamond, who played Screech on Saved By The Bell, has been hospitalised and diagnosed with 'stage four cancer'.

TMZ earlier this week reported it was likely the actor was battling cancer, and his team today confirmed to EW that he has received a diagnosis.

The as-yet-unspecified cancer is said to be "serious" and stage four, with Diamond set to stay in hospital "for a while."

"He's undergoing chemo so he will be there at least another week and then we will figure out when he gets to come home," Diamond's representative told EW. "By next week, we'll have a much better understanding of the severity of his condition and what treatments he will need so that he's comfortable."

Sources from Diamond's team have told the publication that the star was hospitalised in Florida over the past weekend, after he was feeling pain all over his body and a "general sense of unease."

It is known that Diamond's family have a history of the disease, with his mother dying of breast cancer, however they are unclear what kind of cancer it could be for the actor.

Diamond is famous for playing Screech on four seasons of Saved By The Bell.

The star was noticeably missing from the reboot that premiered in 2020, which is likely due to his complicated history with the show.

While most of the Bell cast has gone on to have successful careers like Mario Lopez and Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Diamond has not had an easy time.

He released a sex tape (which he later revealed wasn't actually him) and a book that painted an unflattering portrait of his colleagues that he similarly back-pedalled on.

Speaking to Oprah's Where are they now? in 2013 said he "felt lost" when, at 23 years of age, his role as Screech came to an end.

"I wanted a year or two off just to myself because I felt like I'd earned it," Diamond said.

Three years later in 2009, Diamond released a tell-all book about what really went on behind the scenes of Saved by the Bell.

The novel, Behind the Bell, sparked controversy when it revealed the young cast dabbled in drugs and sex, but Diamond maintains he hardly wrote any of it.

"I was a first-time author so they had a ghostwriter," Diamond said.

"I talked to a guy a few times so the book has some truth in it and a lot of the stories were just throwaways. I expected I was going to be sent a copy to proofread and OK … and I was sent the copy and they said 'This is done.'"

The most alarming allegation in the pages of the finished product was that Mario Lopez had date raped a woman and that US network NBC paid her to keep quiet.

Understandably, Diamond's former Saved by the Bell co-stars weren't thrilled by the claims.