15 Celebrities Who Have Been Diagnosed With Breast Cancer

For folks who were assigned female at birth, breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in the United States.

Elana

• Published in Film & TV
• May 29, 2022

According to The National Breast Cancer Foundation, "an estimated 281,550 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in women in the U.S. as well as 49,290 new cases of non-invasive (in situ) breast cancer." Their organization's website also teaches us that on average, "every 2 minutes a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer in the United States," and today there are nearly 4 million breast cancer survivors in the US alone.

However, breast cancer is not just a concern in the United States. According to the World Health Organization, breast cancer is the most common cancer among women worldwide.

Breast cancer claims the lives of hundreds of thousands of women each year and affects countries at "all levels of modernization." BreastCancer.org reports that '85-90% of breast cancers are due to genetic abnormalities that happen as a result of the aging process and the “wear and tear” of life in general."

The World Health Organization reported that as of 2021, breast cancer accounted for 12% of all new annual cancer cases worldwide, becoming the most common cancer globally. Despite the fact that breast cancer is considered to be a more well-known and more talked about type of cancer, many myths persist to this day.

Since 1 in 8 women in the United States will be diagnosed with breast cancer, there's a good chance that you are already familiar with the intensity of this disease. You may find it comforting to know that some incredibly inspirational and noteworthy women in this world have battled and survived breast cancer, though!

Let's take a look at 15 celebrities who have been diagnosed with breast cancer, treated it, and lived to tell the tale.

1. Christina Applegate

At the age of 36, Christina Applegate was diagnosed with breast cancer. After finding out that she carried the BRCA gene, aka the “breast cancer gene,” her doctor discovered a malignant tumor via MRI when he decided that the mammogram wasn't "sufficient enough" due to the denseness of her breasts.

She underwent a bilateral mastectomy and because it was caught early, the cancer didn't spread to other parts of her body. Today she remains dedicated to fighting for all women’s access to MRIs and genetic testing as guaranteed preventative measures.

In an interview on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Applegate said:

“I am a 36-year-old person with breast cancer, and not many people know that that happens to women my age or women in their 20s. This is my opportunity now to go out and fight as hard as I can for early detection.”

2. Kylie Minogue

Australian pop star Kylie Minogue says she was originally misdiagnosed by her doctor before being diagnosed at the age of 39 with early-stage breast cancer in 2008. She told WHO Magazine:

"My illness made me even more passionate about the all people and all the things that I love. But at the same time, life as I had always known it was on hold".

Four days after her diagnosis, Minogue had surgery and then began chemotherapy. She remains cancer-free, but in 2008 she told Ellen DeGeneres that women need to trust their intuition:

“So my message to all of you and everyone at home is, because someone is in a white coat and using big medical instruments doesn’t necessarily mean they are right."

3. Wanda Sykes

Actress and comedian Wanda Sykes was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer in 2011. To ensure a healthy life for her future, Sykes opted for a double mastectomy.

A double mastectomy isn’t a 100% safeguard against a recurrence of breast cancer, research suggests that it significantly reduces the odds by as much as 90%!

In 2011, Sykes told Ellen DeGeneres that cancer had been discovered when she went in for a breast reduction and because there is a history of breast cancer in her family, she was confident in her decision to get the seemingly dramatic double masectomy:

“It wasn’t until after the reduction that in the lab work, the pathology, that they found that I had DCIS [ductal carcinoma in situ] in my left breast. I was very, very lucky because DCIS is basically stage-zero cancer. So I was very lucky.

“But cancer is cancer. I had the choice of, you can go back every three months and get it checked. Have a mammogram, MRI every three months just to see what it’s doing. But, I’m not good at keeping on top of stuff. I’m sure I m overdue for an oil change and a teeth cleaning already.”

4. Sheryl Crow

After a routine mammogram and a follow-up needle biopsy, Grammy Award-winning musician Sheryl Crow was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma in her left breast.

Her diagnosis was followed by a lumpectomy and seven weeks of radiation therapy, but she also embraced alternative methods of promoting health in her body and mind.

In a 2012 interview with Health Magazine, Crow explained:

“This great friend told me one of the gateways to awakening is to allow yourself to experience your emotions. As Westerners, we’ve gotten adept at suppressing them. It’s always ‘Try not to think about it’ or ‘Keep yourself busy.’ You push all that stuff down, and it manifests itself in other ways, whether it’s stress or disease.

So my attitude was to grieve when I felt like grieving, be afraid when I felt like being afraid, and be angry when I felt like being angry. It also helped me to learn to say no to people. That’s been really liberating.”

In an interview with Diana Price from the Tahoe Cancer Center, Sheryl explained:

“Almost every woman I’ve talked to who has gone through breast cancer treatment has the same story to tell about the metaphysical aspects of it: where the breast represents nourishment—we come into the world fed by the breast, we give life, we feed our children by the breast, we instinctually are caregivers and take care of those around us, and we put ourselves last. I know that’s true in my life.”

Crow lives a less stressful life on a farm outside of Nashville with her son Wyatt and "practices eating a healthy diet that’s high in omega-3s and fiber."

5. Olivia Newton-John

Grammy Award-winning singer, actress, and activist Olivia Newton-John was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992 and after she underwent a partial mastectomy and chemotherapy, she was cancer-free for 25 years! Unfortunately, her cancer returned in 2017, metastasizing in her sacrum, with symptoms of back pain.

When her cancer returned, she received photo radiation therapy. In a press release from her Facebook page, she explained:

“I decided on my direction of therapies after consultation with my doctors and natural therapists and the medical team at my Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness and Research Centre in Melbourne, Australia."

In a 2020 interview with The Guardian, Olivia expressed feeling lucky:

“I’m going to look at it like that. Listen, I think every day is a blessing. You never know when your time is over; we all have a finite amount of time on this planet, and we just need to be grateful for that.”

6. Julia Louis-Dreyfus

Julia Louis-Dreyfus was 56 in 2017 when she turned to Twitter to announce she was diagnosed with breast cancer:

“1 in 8 women get breast cancer. Today, I’m the one,” she wrote. "The good news is that I have the most glorious group of supportive and caring family and friends, and fantastic insurance through my union. The bad news is that not all women are so lucky, so let's fight all cancers and make universal health care a reality."

Winner of multiple Emmy Awards, Julia was no stranger to advocating for cancer research prior to her diagnosis.

In an interview with Good Morning America, Julia said that she normally wouldn't have made her cancer journey so public, but it was worth it:

"I think I reached a lot of people. I was able to raise a lot of money for women who have had mastectomies, who need reconstruction but insurance doesn't cover that, and I was really happy to be able to do that. The outpouring of support was quite overwhelming."

7. Cynthia Nixon

Nixon didn't publicly disclose her breast cancer diagnosis and treatment from 2002 until she became an ambassador for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation in 2008.

Cynthia, whose mother is also a cancer survivor, privately treated her cancer with a lumpectomy and radiation- but no chemotherapy.

8. Carly Simon

Simon was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997 after complaining repeatedly about lumps in her breasts. For far too long, her doctors dismissed the lumps and her concerns as nothing to worry about.

In an interview with The Independent, Simon said:

"I asked various doctors about it for years and they said, 'Oh, don't worry, we'll watch it.' Then one doctor said, 'You know what, I'd rather see it in a jar than in your breast.' So he took it out and it was cancer. Fortunately, it hadn't spread to my lymph nodes.

I was a little angry with myself. I didn't insist on it coming out because I don't like operations but towards the end it started to talk to me. I would be reading Tolstoy or cooking or exercising and I would hear it going, 'Get me out of here!'"

Simon had a masectomy and "is quite taken with her arrow-shaped scar."

"It really changes an awful lot of things," she told the Independent about her cancer and the operation. "It allows you to grow a great deal because it makes you accept what's new and different and maybe a little mis-shapen or not having testosterone and feeling hot flushes."

9. Dame Maggie Smith

Dame Maggie Smith was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 74 while filming “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince."

The knighted, English actress insisted on continuing to film the movie. In an interview with The Telegraph, she explained:

“I was hairless. I had no problem getting the wig on. I was like a boiled egg.”

She continued working the role of Professor McGonagall through to the end of the main Harry Potter movies, including the final film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows.

Admitting that getting breast cancer at her age changed her outlook on life and her future, Dame Smith told her interviewer:

“The last couple of years have been a write-off, though I’m beginning to feel like a person now,” she said. “My energy is coming back. S*** happens. I ought to pull myself together a bit.”

10. Suzanne Somers

Somers was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer in 2001, and after her surgery, she decided to pursue a more holistic path instead of things like chemotherapy and radiation.

At that point in her life, she left the entertainment industry and began working as a motivational speaker, focusing on healthy living advocacy.

Daily Mail reported that instead of chemotherapy, Somers opted to use "Iscador, a modern method of using mistletoe to increase the strength of the immune system." She said:

"Over 10 years, I injected it daily, I never had a cold or flu or even a day where I didn't feel up to par. I realized how important it was to work at a healthy immune system."

She added:

"I started growing my own organic vegetables... and started a routine of generally going to bed at 9.30 to 10 o'clock every night and sleeping until 7 am. I take perfect care of my machine. 'I do yoga three times a week and I walk for a half-hour every day. In between, I get on the elliptical and my triple thigh trainer - I really do use the Thighmaster! - and do about 20 minutes on each of those. I also walk up and down the stairs a lot."

11. Robin Roberts

News Anchor Robin Roberts treated breast cancer in 2007 with a partial mastectomy and chemotherapy but she went on to develop myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a rare blood disease brought on by cancer treatment.

Surprisingly, the treatment for MDS is more chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant.

During an interview with Good Housekeeping in 2012, Robin reflected back on her cancer journey and said:

“I’m not one of those people who say, ‘Cancer is one of the best doggone things that ever happened to me.' I was appreciating life. But [the disease] has made me far more patient than I’ve ever been in my life. And I’m more in the moment with people.”

12. Judy Blume

Blume began writing in 1959 and has published more than 25 novels for children, young adults, and adults. At the age of 74, Blume's routine visit with the radiologist (due to dense breast tissue) led to a core biopsy and a breast cancer diagnosis.

Blume wrote about the diagnosis as eloquently as she writes about anything else:

Wait – me? There s no breast cancer in my family (recent extensive genetic testing shows no genetic connection). I haven’t eaten red meat in more than 30 years. I’ve never smoked, I exercise every day, forget alcohol – it’s bad for my reflux – I’ve been the same weight my whole adult life. How is this possible? Well, guess what – it’s possible.”

Six weeks after her diagnosis, she had a masectomy. She went on to write:

“My friends who’ve had breast cancer have been so helpful and supportive I can never thank them enough. They got me through this. They were my inspiration. If we can do it, you can do it! They were right. And I got off easy. I don’t need chemo which is a whole other ballgame.”

13. Kathy Bates

After surviving ovarian cancer in 2003, Kathy Bates was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer in 2012. The award-winning actress underwent a double mastectomy, but unfortunately, she also developed lymphedema, a swelling in the body’s extremities with no cure.

Thankfully, lymphedema symptoms can be managed with physical therapy and weight loss, and Bates says they have helped her symptoms.

“I’ve joined the ranks of women who are going flat, as they say. I don’t have breasts — so why do I have to pretend like I do? That stuff isn’t important. I’m just grateful to have been born at a time when the research made it possible for me to survive. I feel so incredibly lucky to be alive.”

Bates is now the national spokeswoman for the Lymphatic Education and Research Network (LE&RN). She meets with members of congress about publicizing the condition.

14. Gloria Steinem

"Gloria Marie Steinem is an American feminist journalist and social political activist who became nationally recognized as a leader and a spokeswoman for the American feminist movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Steinem was a columnist for New York magazine, and a co-founder of Ms. magazine."

This famous activist and advocate for women's rights was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1986.

Steinem had a lumpectomy and in 2016 discussed the cancer’s affects with interviewer Dave Davies on NPR’s “Fresh Air":

“It made me realize several things. One was – this may sound strange if I try to say it short – but that, actually, I wasn’t – I was less afraid of dying than of aging – or not of aging, exactly. I didn’t know how to enter the last third of life because there were so few role models because when I first heard this diagnosis, first, I thought, ironically, oh, so that’s how it’s going to end, you know? And then I thought to myself, as if it was welling up from the deepest part of me, I’ve had a wonderful life. And I treasure that moment. You know, it meant a lot to me.”

15. Tig Notaro

In 2012, Notaro became a famous comedian for performing a transgressive comedy set in which she revealed her cancer diagnosis after only learning about it earlier that same day.

She got up on stage and said: “Is everybody having a good time? I have cancer.”

Her diagnosis came abruptly after mourning the tragic loss of her mother in a freak accident and breaking up with her girlfriend. However, she went on to become a cult icon after having a double mastectomy (with no reconstructive surgery.)

In an interview with Vanity Fair, Tig said:

“The big picture of my story is that you never know what’s coming around the corner,” she says. “I need to sit down, take a deep breath, and connect with where I feel there’s humor these days I could push a stool around Conan’s stage for the rest of my life, but some of my other jokes … ” She pauses. “I just don’t think I connect with them anymore.”

Sometimes celebrities feel so out of reality to those of us mucking through our average days in our average lives. But stories like these remind us that celebrities are just as human as the rest of us.

They may have some of the best opportunities to treat catastrophic medical conditions, financial comfort, and incredible support systems, but the human experience is practically universal.

Elana