Breast cancer is the world’s most prevalent form of cancer. At the end of 2020, there were over 7.8 million women worldwide who had or survived breast cancer in the past five years, making it highly likely that you’ve met at least a few survivors in your lifetime.
Dealing with breast cancer diagnosis and the associated treatments can be incredibly gruelling for a patient. For example, in some cases, breast cancer patients may opt for a mastectomy, a surgery to remove a part of the breasts to excise the cancer. However, as the breasts are a significant part of many women’s impression of their appearance, this may impact one’s identity as a woman, having implications for their mental health. Beyond this, patients and survivors may need to learn how to come to terms with their conditions, which may alter their outlooks on life.
Many celebrities are normalising discussions about breast cancer, coming forth with their own survivor stories and providing a broader platform to amplify the voices of other patients and survivors. Here are some of the lessons celebrity breast cancer survivors have shared.
Sheryl Crow
Phull, Hardeep. “Sheryl Crow.” New York Post, New York Post, 10 Oct. 2016, nypost.com/2016/10/10/how-breast-cancer-changed-sheryl-crows-outlook-on-life/. Accessed 22 Oct. 2021.
Sharyl Crow is a famous American musician who has won nine Grammy Awards. Diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006, in order to cope with her diagnosis, Crow had to develop strategies to maintain her physical and mental well-being. According to an interview from Health Magazine in 2012, she said, “This great friend told me one of the gateways to awakening is to allow yourself to experience your emotions.” Crow learned that it is okay to be angry when she is angry, grieve when she is sad and be afraid when she is afraid of something. Now having been in remission for more than a decade, she continues to maintain her physical health through a healthy diet and reducing stressors in her life in order to spend more time caring for herself.
Read more about Crow's story via the following link: https://nypost.com/2016/10/10/how-breast-cancer-changed-sheryl-crows-outlook-on-life/
Dame Maggie Smith
Lattanzio, Ryan. “Maggie Smith.” IndieWire, IndieWire, 7 Dec. 2019, www.indiewire.com/2019/12/maggie-smith-harry-potter-interview-1202195292/. Accessed 21 Oct. 2021.
Dame Maggie Smith is most well known for her role as Professor McGonagall in the Harry Potter film series, but did you know that she was battling breast cancer all throughout filming “the Deathly Hallows?” She spoke about the experience with great humour, remembering her time filming the movie: ‘“I was hairless, I had no problem getting the wig on. I was like a boiled egg.” After entering remission, she had a period of listlessness in her life, semi-retiring from theatre, stating, “I think it’s the age when it happened. It knocks you sideways. It takes you longer to recover, you are not so resilient. I am fearful of the amount of energy one needs to be in a film or a play.” Still, she emphasises the importance of keeping resilient and maintaining a positive attitude to cope with the condition of breast cancer, “My energy is coming back. [Stuff] happens. I ought to pull myself together a bit.”
Gloria Steinem
Hymowitz, Carol. “Gloria Steinem.” Bloomberg, Bloomberg, 4 Aug. 2016, www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-04/gloria-steinem-is-still-on-the-road-at-82. Accessed 21 Oct. 2021.
Rounding off our list is celebrated women’s rights’ activist, Gloria Steinem. Steinem was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1986, and has been a staunch advocate for survivors ever since! Speaking on what inspired her to go down this path, she explained that it stemmed from her own lack of role models as she was approaching the later stages of her life, “It made me realize several things. One was [...], I was less afraid of dying than of aging. 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.”
To learn more, view the following link: https://www.healthline.com/health/celebrities-with-breast-cancer#10.-Gloria-Steinem
Works Cited List
“12 Articles about Breast Health and Breast Cancer.” Northwestern Medicine, Northwestern Medicine, www.nm.org/healthbeat/healthy-tips/12-articles-about-breast-health-and-breast-cancer. Accessed 21 Oct. 2021.
“Five Questions about Life after Breast Cancer.” Moffitt Cancer Center, Moffitt Cancer Center, 27 Oct. 2017, moffitt.org/taking-care-of-your-health/taking-care-of-your-health-story-archive/five-questions-about-life-after-breast-cancer-with-dr-hoover/. Accessed 21 Oct. 2021.
“Going Flat: Choosing No Reconstruction.” Breastcancer.org, Breastcancer.org, 7 Mar. 2019, www.breastcancer.org/treatment/surgery/reconstruction/no-reconstruction. Accessed 22 Oct. 2021.
“Life after Breast Cancer Treatment.” Breast Cancer Now, Breast Cancer Now, 27 July 2018, breastcancernow.org/information-support/facing-breast-cancer/living-beyond-breast-cancer/life-after-breast-cancer-treatment. Accessed 22 Oct. 2021.
“Living Life after Breast Cancer Treatment.” Northwestern Medicine, www.nm.org/healthbeat/healthy-tips/living-life-after-breast-cancer. Accessed 21 Oct. 2021.
Nagelberg, Rachel. “15 Celebrities with Breast Cancer: Cynthia Nixon to Judy Blume.” Healthline, Healthline, 16 Apr. 2019, www.healthline.com/health/celebrities-with-breast-cancer. Accessed 22 Oct. 2021.
Shaw, Gina. “Breast Cancer Survivors: Life after the Treatments End.” WebMD, WebMD, Mar. 2005, www.webmd.com/breast-cancer/features/life-after-breast-cancer-treatment. Accessed 22 Oct. 2021.
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