“I’m not signing off,” Shannen Doherty said recently.
These 3 Celebrities Are Living With Stage IV Breast Cancer
One in eight women will develop breast cancer, according to the American Cancer Society, so it’s not surprising when a celebrity—or someone you love—shares a breast cancer diagnosis: Giuliana Rancic, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Wanda Sykes have all been open about their breast cancer diagnoses and treatments. Thirty percent of early-stage breast cancer patients will eventually see their disease return as metastatic (or stage IV) cancer, meaning the disease has spread to other organs—and that stat stands in Hollywood, as well. The three women below are all living with metastatic breast cancer (there is no cure for stage IV breast cancer) while also living in the spotlight.
Olivia Newton-John
Following her first breast cancer diagnosis in 1992, Olivia Newton-John underwent a mastectomy, reconstruction, and nine months of chemotherapy. During her treatment she also found comfort in an overall wellness plan that included yoga and meditation. She would go on to lend her name and help raise funds to open the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness and Research Centre in Melbourne in 2012, to give other people living with cancer access to similar treatments. “To create this wellness center where people who are going through cancer could go and do the things I had done when I had breast cancer was a big passion for me,” she said. “I did massage and meditation and yoga…all the things that would help heal me and keep my spirit positive.”
Twenty-five years after her initial breast cancer diagnosis—upon experiencing severe back pain that she had attributed to sciatica—Newton-John learned that the cancer had returned as stage IV, metastasizing in a bone in her lower back.
“I am feeling good and enjoying total support from my family and friends, along with a team of wellness and medical practitioners,” she told People, sharing that her course of treatment included radiation. “I’m totally confident that my new journey will have a positive success story to inspire others!” In 2019, she teamed up with Dancers Against Cancer, which has raised more than $2 million for dancers affected by cancer.
In October of 2020—following the death of her friend Kelly Preston after a two-year battle with breast cancer—Newton-John announced the establishment of the Olivia Newton-John Foundation: Her death “really strengthened my resolve to form this foundation because I’ve lost way too many friends to cancer, family members, and friends,” she said. “Having lived with it, this is my dream. This is my passion to see a world beyond cancer.”
The following February, Newton-John said she was “feeling great” ahead of her daughter’s wedding. “I’m so lucky to still be doing all these things. I don’t think I imagined living this long! I feel very blessed.”
Shannen Doherty
The 90210 actor announced in February of 2015 that she was undergoing treatment after a breast cancer diagnosis. In July of 2016, following a second round of chemotherapy, she documented the process of chopping off her hair—which lead to shaving her head entirely—on Instagram.
“After my second treatment, my hair was really matted, like in dreadlocks. And I went to try and brush it out, and it just fell out,” Doherty told ET. “We did stages. We did a pixie. And then we did a mohawk, which was my favorite look. And then, finally, we had to get the shaver thing and just buzz it off.”
Though her cancer went into remission in 2017, she would share in February of 2020 that it had returned as stage IV. In spite of her diagnosis, she joined the Beverly Hills, 90210, reboot, which aired in 2019, viewing it as an opportunity to prove that she could continue to work despite her health struggles. “One of the reasons, along with Luke, that I did 90210 and didn’t really tell anybody [was] because I thought, People can look at that [as] people with stage IV can work too,” she said.
“I’m not signing off,” she told Elle in 2020. “I feel like I’m a very, very healthy human being. It’s hard to wrap up your affairs when you feel like you’re going to live another 10 or 15 years.”
She’s continued to share “truthful” photos of her cancer journey with her Instagram followers, speaking to both her mental and physical health, and—most recently—her decision to shave her head in the face of post-chemotherapy hair loss.
Bershan Shaw
The Buckle Up With Bershan podcast host and motivational speaker went through radiation after first being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007, at age 33. Two years later, though (just weeks before her wedding), she’d learn the cancer had returned as stage IV. At the time she was given just three months to live, but—as she shared on Instagram this month—“I’m here 12 years later thriving.”
Fans of the short-lived OWN reality series Love in the City may recognize Shaw from the 2014 show. Fans of The Real Housewives of New York can keep an eye out for her there next season: People reported in September of 2020 that she’d been seen filming with the cast.
Since her diagnosis, Shaw’s used her platforms (her Urawarrior app is slated to come out soon) to build women up—and promote breast cancer awareness. “The biggest thing today is to check your boobies,” she wrote recently. “Don’t be afraid. Don’t be scared and don’t skip your appointment. Ladies, get yourself checked out. You can and will come out on the other side of it.”
This story originally appeared on: Glamour - Author:Condé Nast
