Ananda Lewis has passed away at the age of 52 after a long battle with breast cancer. Her sister, Lakshmi, announced the news of her death in a Facebook post on Wednesday, June 11.
Her sister posted a tribute
Telling the world about Lewis’ passing, her sister shared a black and white portrait of the MTV VJ and wrote, “She’s free, and in His heavenly arms.”
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“Lord, rest her soul ????????.”
She was an MTV VJ
Lewis was hired to be one of MTV’s VJs in 1997, hosting shows like Total Request Live and Hot Zone, she became popular at the time.
She was dubbed “the hip-hop generation’s reigning It Girl” by The New York Times in 1999. Lewis later left MTV in 2001 and started hosting her own talk show, The Ananda Lewis Show.
Lewis had been battling cancer
The talk show host revealed in an Instagram post back in 2020 that she had been diagnosed with stage III breast cancer.
In the post, she said her fear of radiation had been stopping her from getting regular mammograms.
Her tumor later metastasized
Later in 2024, she revealed she went against medical advice and didn’t have a double mastectomy after she was diagnosed.
Her cancer then progressed to stage IV since her tumor had metastasized.
She later admitted that wasn’t right to do
“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,” Lewis told CNN’s Stephanie Elam and Sara Sidner at a roundtable.
“I decided to keep my tumor and try to work it out of my body a different way. . . . I wish I could go back. It’s important for me to admit where I went wrong with this.”
Lewis later emphasized the importance of prevention
In an article published in Essence in January of this year, the talk show host said that “prevention is the real cure” for cancer.
“We’re not meant to stay here forever. We come to this life, have experiences — and then we go,” Lewis wrote.
She urged women to pay attention to their bodies
“Being real about that with yourself changes how you choose to live. I don’t want to spend one more minute than I have to suffering unnecessarily,” Lewis added.
“That, for me, is not the quality of life I’m interested in. When it’s time for me to go, I want to be able to look back on my life and say, ‘I did that exactly how I wanted to.’”
