Former MTV VJ Ananda Lewis says her breast cancer has spread following her diagnosis in 2020.
Ananda, 51, announced her breast cancer diagnosis in a 2020 Instagram post. She said she had stage III breast cancer and she’d refused mammograms for years due to fear of radiation exposure.
But during a discussion on cancer with CNN’s Stephanie Elam and CNN anchor Sara Sidner — who was diagnosed with Stage III breast cancer early this year — Ananda said she refused her doctors’ recommendation for a double mastectomy.
“My plan at first was to get out excessive toxins in my body. I felt like my body is intelligent, I know that to be true. Our bodies are brilliantly made,” she explained.
“I decided to keep my tumor and try to work it out of my body a different way,” she said. “Looking back on that, I go, ‘You know what? Maybe I should have.’”
Ananda improved her diet and tried homeopathic treatments as well as medication and radiation. She also got more sleep.
Last year, she discovered her cancer had spread to her lymph nodes.
“My lymph system really flared up,” Ananda said. “It was the first time I ever had a conversation with death because I felt like: This is how it is.”
“I was just like, ‘Fudge man, I really thought I had this.’ I was frustrated, I was a little angry at myself, and I said, ‘Man, listen. I know you’re coming for me at some point. But I don’t want it to be now. And if you could just wait, I promise when you do come, I’m gonna make it fun for you.’”
Ananda hosted BET’s “Teen Summit” in the early 1990s before she was hired as one of MTV’s first video jockeys. She was an immediate hit with MTV network’s young viewers.
Ananda received praise after she berated rapper Q-Tip for casting scantily clad girls in one of his music videos.
Bob Kusbit, MTV’s senior vice president for production, told The New York Times, “In the past our talent was sometimes just pretty people who could read cue cards. But when we brought Ananda to MTV, we decided we were going to do a lot more live television.”
Ananda also hosted other MTV shows and specials.
She was abstinent for most of the late 1990s. In 2011, Ananda gave birth to son Langston, her first child, with Harry Smith.
