These stars shined the spotlight on facing breast cancer. For this list, we’ll be looking at big names who have directly confronted breast cancer.
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00:00 I don't think anybody knows about this.
00:01 You just went through something very, very serious
00:04 and you're gonna talk about it for the first time.
00:07 - Welcome to Miss Mojo, and today we're spotlighting
00:11 10 stars who faced breast cancer.
00:13 - Darn it, you know, I miss those gals.
00:16 But then, you know, it's closely followed by
00:21 this is about your life.
00:22 - For this list, we'll be looking at big names
00:24 who have directly confronted breast cancer.
00:26 Some of these stories have sadder outcomes than others,
00:29 but all of these stars are inspirations.
00:32 Have you or a loved one ever faced breast cancer?
00:35 Share your experiences in the comments.
00:37 Shirley Temple Black.
00:40 We think of Shirley Temple as a perpetual child star,
00:44 but the truth is that movies like Curly Top
00:46 only made up part of her life.
00:48 - Could I come back and tell you when death a little while?
00:51 - Why, of course.
00:52 I'll wait for you right here.
00:54 - After retiring from film acting at age 22,
00:57 Temple went on to have a successful TV career,
01:00 become a US diplomat, and raise breast cancer awareness.
01:03 Temple was in her mid-40s when she discovered a lump
01:06 that turned out to be breast cancer.
01:08 - Don't hesitate and don't be afraid.
01:10 Go and take care of it because I wanna live very badly,
01:14 and I always have, and I feel I've got a lot to do.
01:16 - She soon underwent a life-saving mastectomy,
01:19 removing her left breast.
01:21 At a time when breast cancer was stigmatized,
01:23 Temple invited the press into her hospital room,
01:26 encouraging people not to sit home and be afraid
01:29 if they found a strange lump.
01:30 She further stressed that people go to a doctor immediately
01:34 and get it diagnosed.
01:35 - I'm a happy person.
01:36 I'm optimistic, but I'm a realist.
01:39 - Edie Falco.
01:40 Edie Falco is known for her powerful presence
01:43 on The Sopranos,
01:44 but she's just as resilient behind the scenes.
01:46 Falco was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2003.
01:50 - It was a little bit like 9/11.
01:53 It was a little bit like this election we just had,
01:55 where you just,
01:56 things stop working in a way that you're familiar with.
02:01 - The Emmy-winning actress had to be on set
02:03 later that afternoon to shoot an intense scene
02:06 with James Gandolfini,
02:07 and understandably, she struggled
02:09 to get through work that day.
02:11 - I couldn't remember my lines,
02:12 which I never have problems with.
02:14 You know, it was a real out-of-body experience.
02:18 I couldn't process the news I had just gotten.
02:21 - She kept her diagnosis private,
02:22 only telling family and close friends,
02:25 including executive producer Eileen Landris.
02:28 For a year as she underwent treatment,
02:30 the show scheduled shooting around Falco's chemo.
02:33 - Other than that, things just sort of chugged along.
02:36 And I dealt with this on my own,
02:38 with my friends and my family,
02:39 which is what worked for me.
02:40 It doesn't work for everybody,
02:42 but that was my, what I did.
02:44 - Relieved to learn that she would survive,
02:46 Falco realized that she wanted to be a mother.
02:49 With a new lease on life,
02:50 she was motivated to adopt her son in 2005
02:53 and her daughter three years later.
02:56 Jane Fonda.
02:57 In addition to her prolific film career,
02:59 Jane Fonda is iconic for her best-selling workout videos.
03:03 Even when somebody appears to be in perfect shape,
03:06 cancer has its way of sneaking through.
03:08 In 2010, the 72-year-old Fonda
03:11 went in for a routine checkup.
03:13 A small, non-invasive tumor was found in her breast.
03:16 - I felt, God, I've just joined a family
03:18 of millions of women who have gone through this.
03:22 And how interesting, what a journey this is gonna be.
03:24 - After a lumpectomy,
03:26 Fonda was declared 100% cancer-free.
03:29 This wouldn't be the end
03:30 of Fonda's cancer experience, however.
03:32 Over the ensuing years,
03:33 Fonda would have a cancerous growth
03:35 taken out of her lower lip
03:37 and underwent chemo
03:38 following a non-Hodgkin lymphoma diagnosis.
03:41 - Always the political activist,
03:43 Fonda says she's lucky to have insurance
03:45 and access to the best doctors,
03:48 adding that far too many don't and it's not right.
03:51 - Thankfully, Fonda announced in late 2022
03:54 that she was in remission with no need to continue chemo.
03:57 Now in her mid-80s,
03:59 Fonda continues to act and promote good health.
04:01 - I'm basically a healthy person.
04:03 And so that's what makes me seem younger
04:07 than my actual numerical age,
04:09 is because I'm healthy and I have good posture.
04:12 - Cynthia Nixon.
04:14 Sex and the City fans will be familiar
04:16 with Samantha's breast cancer story arc.
04:18 In reality, another cast member
04:20 would soon face the disease.
04:22 - Go back to your people.
04:23 We'll talk about this later.
04:25 - You are my people and we'll talk about it now.
04:27 Now start at the beginning.
04:30 - Cynthia Nixon was barely a teenager
04:33 when her mother was first diagnosed with breast cancer.
04:35 Due to her family's history,
04:37 Nixon started getting mammograms at age 35.
04:40 When she was 40,
04:42 Nixon learned that she had stage one breast cancer.
04:45 - They said they wouldn't have thought anything of it.
04:46 It was so small, but it wasn't there on the previous year.
04:49 So in my case, starting my mammograms early
04:51 because I had a family history of it
04:53 might have been really life-saving.
04:55 - Undergoing a lumpectomy and radiation,
04:58 Nixon kept her diagnosis private for almost two years.
05:01 Emerging cancer-free, Nixon opened up about her experience,
05:05 going on to become a Susan G. Komen for the Cure Ambassador.
05:09 In 2014, Nixon's mother died
05:12 after enduring breast cancer for the third time.
05:14 Shortly after, Nixon starred in the film "James White,"
05:18 playing a mother with cancer.
05:19 - Really sort of honing in on what the scene was
05:23 and sort of being as close to the ground
05:26 in terms of the reality of it.
05:29 - Wanda Sykes.
05:30 Dropping by "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" in 2011,
05:33 comedian Wanda Sykes made a surprising announcement.
05:38 - Yeah, I had breast cancer.
05:41 Yeah, ooh, I know, it's scary.
05:43 It is.
05:44 - A while back, Sykes chose to have breast reduction surgery.
05:48 This would be a life-changing decision
05:50 in ways that Sykes never anticipated.
05:52 The doctors found that her left breast
05:54 possessed ductal carcinoma in situ.
05:57 - I was very, very lucky because DCIS
05:59 is basically stage zero cancer, right?
06:02 So I was very lucky, and, you know, but cancer is cancer.
06:06 - Though minor, this discovery was a potential sign
06:10 of worse things to come.
06:11 Getting ahead of any further health problems,
06:14 Sykes opted to have a double mastectomy,
06:16 removing both of her breasts.
06:18 - It sounds scary up front, but I mean,
06:20 you, I mean, what do you want?
06:22 Do you want to wait and not be as fortunate to,
06:26 you know, when it comes back?
06:28 - This radically decreased Sykes' odds
06:30 of ever hearing the words breast cancer
06:33 from another physician.
06:34 It also helped ensure that she'd be around
06:36 to watch her children grow up and keep audiences smiling.
06:39 - We gonna be all right.
06:41 - Bette Davis.
06:42 - Fasten your seat belts.
06:44 It's going to be a bumpy night.
06:46 - Like all golden age Hollywood stars,
06:48 Bette Davis's career had its ups and downs,
06:51 yet few stars kept audiences coming back for decades
06:54 as Davis did.
06:55 Even when she was diagnosed with breast cancer
06:58 in the early 80s, she continued to appear in film
07:01 and television for several years.
07:03 - Let's find another film, Bette.
07:06 Let's.
07:07 - Collapsing at the 1989 American Cinema Awards,
07:11 Davis learned shortly after
07:12 that her breast cancer had returned.
07:14 Her health continued to deteriorate
07:17 at the San Sebastian International Film Festival,
07:20 so much so that she couldn't return to the US.
07:23 Davis only made it as far as France,
07:25 where she passed away at age 81.
07:27 Although this marked the end of her life journey,
07:30 nobody can say that Davis was anything less than a survivor.
07:33 - Old age ain't no place for sissies.
07:36 (laughs)
07:37 It's true.
07:38 - Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
07:40 From "SNL" to "Seinfeld" to "Veep,"
07:43 Julia Louis-Dreyfus has been a comedy superstar
07:46 for over 40 years.
07:47 She showed no signs of slowing down
07:50 after winning a sixth consecutive Emmy
07:52 for playing Selina Meyer.
07:53 The next day, however, Louis-Dreyfus received
07:56 a stage two breast cancer diagnosis.
07:59 - Your Honor.
08:00 - I am gonna throw up a leg.
08:02 - The actress initially laughed when she told her husband,
08:05 which was followed by tears.
08:07 She didn't wait long to go public with her condition,
08:10 expressing her gratitude for her friends, family,
08:12 and union insurance.
08:14 - The bad news is not all women are so lucky,
08:17 so let's fight all cancers
08:18 and make universal healthcare a reality.
08:22 - Over the next year or so,
08:23 she had a double mastectomy and six rounds of chemo,
08:27 coming out cancer-free.
08:28 Now in her 60s, Louis-Dreyfus continues to bring the laughs
08:32 while also demonstrating her dramatic range.
08:35 - I actually dream about that.
08:39 - Christina Applegate.
08:42 Christina Applegate is another comedy legend
08:45 with a career spanning TV, film, and even theater.
08:48 Many were caught off guard when news broke
08:50 of the 36-year-old actress's breast cancer diagnosis
08:53 in 2008.
08:55 - A doctor I'd been getting my mammograms from just said,
08:57 you know, it's time that we start doing MRIs
08:59 because of the density and their inability
09:02 to really see what was going on.
09:04 And luckily for me, he did do that
09:08 because they found on the MRI the calcification.
09:10 - Applegate's mother, actress Nancy Priddy,
09:12 also had breast cancer at a young age.
09:15 Like her mother, Applegate would survive this ordeal.
09:18 While the cancer was only located in one breast,
09:21 Applegate decided to have a double mastectomy.
09:23 - This is my best chance of not having to deal
09:27 with breast cancer ever again for as long as I live.
09:31 And that's what I just knew and had to do for myself.
09:36 - Since Applegate carries the genetic BRCA1 mutation,
09:40 she also had her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed
09:43 after giving birth to her daughter.
09:45 Applegate has remained an advocate
09:47 for breast cancer awareness and research.
09:49 Just as she was with cancer,
09:51 Applegate has been candid about living
09:53 with multiple sclerosis,
09:55 which she was diagnosed with in 2021.
09:57 - Different now and it's incredibly hard.
09:59 No, it's, yeah, I don't wanna be the fish in the fish tank,
10:04 but, you know, I'm gonna do my best
10:07 to just get through it, I suppose.
10:09 - Carly Simon.
10:10 This Grammy-winning singer is no stranger to cancer.
10:14 Her brother Peter died from lung cancer in 2018.
10:18 Thyroid cancer claimed her sister Joanna's life
10:20 four years later.
10:22 The next day, her other sister Lucy
10:24 succumbed to metastatic breast cancer.
10:27 - In a tribute to her trailblazing sisters,
10:29 Carly Simon wrote, "They touched everyone they knew
10:33 and those of us they've left behind will be lucky
10:36 and honored to carry their memories forward."
10:39 - Carly Simon herself received a breast cancer diagnosis
10:42 back in 1997, the same year she released
10:45 her film noir album.
10:47 Shockingly, the lump had been present for years
10:50 with doctors advising against operating.
10:53 Finally, one doctor told Simon,
10:55 "I'd rather see it in a jar than in your breast."
10:58 After surgery, it was confirmed to be cancer,
11:01 which thankfully hadn't spread to her lymph nodes.
11:04 - It doesn't feel like an escape.
11:05 It feels like something that I went through.
11:07 I discovered it a little bit too late.
11:09 I mean, if I hadn't discovered it as late as I did,
11:12 if I'd gone on time to have a mammogram
11:14 like most intelligent women do.
11:16 - Simon's double mastectomy was followed by chemo
11:19 just to be safe.
11:20 Almost 25 years later, the 80-year-old Simon
11:24 remains cancer-free.
11:25 - You're a survivor.
11:26 - I'm a survivor, and there's no way
11:28 of knowing how strong you are until you have to
11:32 fight something.
11:33 - I'll drink to that.
11:34 - Olivia Newton-John.
11:35 - I'm gonna be fine, and I will probably deal with this
11:38 in my life as an ongoing thing.
11:41 - Olivia Newton-John became a vocal breast cancer advocate
11:44 after being diagnosed in 1992.
11:47 Although she would be in the clear
11:48 after nine difficult months,
11:50 this unfortunately wasn't the end.
11:52 Her breast cancer returned in 2013,
11:55 spreading to her shoulder,
11:57 a development that she chose to keep private.
11:59 - Why did you wanna keep that away from the public eye?
12:02 - Because of the speculation,
12:04 which happened the third time.
12:05 So I just decided I wanted to go through it myself.
12:09 - In 2017, she revealed a third diagnosis
12:13 with the cancer spreading to her lower back.
12:16 She remained strong and candid
12:18 even as the cancer approached her bones,
12:20 reaching stage four.
12:21 - It hasn't been easy, of course.
12:23 I mean, I'm human, and I go through fear and all things,
12:27 everyone going through a cancer
12:28 or any other difficult diagnosis.
12:30 But it's a choice how you deal with it.
12:33 So I try to always deal with it in a positive way.
12:36 - In 2022, 30 years after her first diagnosis,
12:40 Newton-John died at age 73.
12:42 In her honor, AMC brought Grease back to theaters
12:45 with proceeds going to breast cancer research.
12:48 Newton-John will not only continue to touch lives
12:51 through her music and movies,
12:52 but her cancer wellness and research center as well.
12:55 - Give women inspiration, hopefully, to fight the fight.
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