23 Celebrities With Breast Cancer

In March of 2024, actress Olivia Munn, 45, known for her roles in Attack of the Show!, Newsroom, Magic Mike, and Iron Man 2, announced via Instagram that she’d been diagnosed with aggressive luminal B breast cancer and had undergone a double mastectomy. Along with her personal update, Munn offered an important public health message: A breast cancer risk assessment screening tool — a multipart questionnaire administered by her doctor — prompted her diagnosis, not a mammogram. In fact, her mammogram and a genetic screening test for high-risk breast cancer genes had come back negative. When Munn’s risk assessment came back high, her doctor (“my guardian angel”) ordered the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that caught her cancer, Munn shared via Instagram.

Though Doherty stated on Instagram in April 2017 that she was in remission after surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, by February 2020 the breast cancer had recurred and reached stage 4 (metastasis). In 2023, she announced the cancer had spread to her brain and bones.

Doherty opened up about facing metastatic breast cancer, her treatments, and the progression of her disease in her Let’s Be Clear With Shannen Doherty podcast, to which she invited her doctors to discuss her treatments. She openly shared her thoughts and experiences through her cancer journey on the podcast, including her brain surgery to remove the tumor (which she had named “Bob”). Other podcast episodes focused on “downsizing” and embracing what is precious. She also shared videos on her Instagram account of getting a mask fitted for radiation therapy and then receiving radiation therapy.

In October of 2019, Mathew Knowles, father of musical artists Beyoncé and Solange Knowles, announced that he had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Following his diagnosis, he worked to spread awareness about male breast cancer.

In a May 2024 Instagram post, Knowles, 74, said: “Over the last five years, I’ve experienced COVID, cancer, and two knee replacements. I’m grateful that I found my male breast cancer at stage one. My major takeaway from the last five years has been self-care.”

Knowles has since learned that he carries the BRCA2 gene mutation, which escalates risk for breast cancer as well as prostate cancer, pancreatic cancer, melanoma, and ovarian cancer. Knowles says that there is a long history of breast cancer in his family.

On September 28, 2017, Louis-Dreyfus used Twitter, now called X, to announce that she had breast cancer. “One in 8 women get breast cancer,” the Emmy Award–winning actress wrote. “Today, I’m the one.”

Louis-Dreyfus struck a positive note with her message — and used the opportunity to make a plug for more extensive healthcare coverage for all. “The good news is that I have the most glorious group of supportive and caring family and friends, and fantastic insurance through my union,” she wrote. “The bad news is that not all women are so lucky, so let’s fight all cancers and make universal healthcare a reality.”

Journalist and former Good Morning America cohost Joan Lunden considers her breast cancer diagnosis a gift — and by chronicling her breast cancer journey publicly over the years, she’s creating a proud legacy.

Lunden’s cancer journey started when she had her annual mammogram in early June 2014, and the result was negative. She also had her usual follow-up ultrasound because her breasts have dense, fibrous tissue. This time, however, a tumor was identified in her right breast, which a core biopsy later confirmed to be cancer.

“I sat there stunned. How could this be?” Lunden shared in her blog. “I considered myself fit and healthy, I get checked faithfully every year, and I didn’t have a history of breast cancer in my family.”

She took immediate action and underwent chemotherapy followed by a lumpectomy and radiation. At the same time, Lunden, whose father was a cancer surgeon, is using her experience to raise awareness about the importance of breast cancer screenings, breast self-exams, and early detection.

“I know I have a challenge ahead of me in this journey, however, I have chosen to take it as an opportunity to fulfill my father’s legacy and try to inspire others to protect their health,” she wrote in her blog.

“A lot of people don’t realize that, if caught early, breast cancer has one of the highest survival rates of any cancer, but the key is to catch it early. That’s why my mission is to get the word out about early detection,” she said.

The former E! News host and star of E!’s Giuliana & Bill show revealed she had been diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer in October 2011. Then 36, Rancic had gotten a mammogram before receiving another round of IVF treatment for infertility when her doctor discovered the tumor. In December 2011, she underwent a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery.

Andrea Mitchell, NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent and anchor of MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports, was diagnosed with breast cancer in August of 2011 after a routine mammogram and has been an advocate for early detection and breast cancer screening ever since. In 2020, the veteran journalist received the Pink Ribbon Award for her breast cancer advocacy efforts.

But, she said, her breast cancer experience taught her a life lesson in the importance of early detection.

Sykes approached her diagnosis “with her trademark humor and resilience, using laughter as a form of healing and empowerment,” Clark wrote. “Her willingness to share her story has empowered others to face their own challenges with courage and optimism.”

In 2003, actress Edie Falco was midway through filming a season of The Sopranos when she learned she had stage 1 breast cancer. She plowed through an emotional scene the day she received her diagnosis and continued working as she went through treatment in the months ahead.

Speaking to Health in 2011, Falco related that the breast cancer diagnosis initially left her gasping for breath — until she realized she was a strong woman and had the resources to fight it.

While the majority of breast cancer cases occur in women, men can get it, too. In 2009, Peter Criss of the rock group KISS told CNN that he felt like “the luckiest man on the planet” after surviving the breast cancer he first noticed as a lump in his left breast two years earlier. Since then he has continued to make music and has published his autobiography.

Somers was first diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer after a routine mammogram in 2000. She underwent a lumpectomy and radiation therapy and sought and received alternative therapies.

In July 2023, Somers posted on Instagram that her breast cancer had returned.

“As you know, I had breast cancer two decades ago, and every now and then it pops up again, and I continue to bat it down,” she wrote. “I have used the best alternative and conventional treatments to combat it. This is not new territory for me. I know how to put on my battle gear, and I’m a fighter.”

Actress Christina Applegate, 54, has had more than her share of serious health battles — most recently multiple sclerosis (MS), with which she was diagnosed in 2021 while working on the third season of Netflix’s Dead to Me, as she posted on X.

But before MS, Applegate shared another health journey that started in April 2008 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. At age 36, Applegate first underwent a lumpectomy. But after learning that she had the BRCA1 genetic mutation (a gene associated with an increased risk of both breast and ovarian cancer), she opted for a double mastectomy followed by the removal of her ovaries and fallopian tubes.

Singer Olivia Newton-John battled breast cancer for 30 years before losing her life to the disease at age 73 on August 8, 2022. In an Instagram post at the time, her husband John Easterling wrote: “Olivia has been a symbol of triumphs and hope for over 30 years sharing her journey with breast cancer.”

Newton-John was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992 after a self-examination, which led her to her doctor for further testing. “I wasn’t feeling right, and I had found lumps before, but this time it just felt different.” Even after a mammogram and needle biopsy came back negative, “my instincts were telling me that something wasn’t right,” she recalls. “After a surgical biopsy, they found the cancer.”

After the cancer returned in 2013, Newton-John received hormone treatment that sent it into remission again, but it metastasized to her bones in 2017. She embraced an integrative approach, using complementary treatments like CBD tinctures along with conventional approaches like radiation and hormone therapies.

Lee experienced complications following her mastectomies and required a second surgery to treat an infection.

A biopsy determined she had early-stage DCIS, a form of breast cancer that starts in the milk ducts.

According to Dickinson, “Initially, when the doctor found the lump it hurt. It became quite painful when you touch it. That’s the point when I knew this is serious.”

In spite of her shock and fear, however, Dickinson said, “I am not gonna let that define me — the fear. I’m going to get through this. I’ll be just fine.”

In October 2024, actress Jenna Fischer, now 52, announced her cancer diagnosis via Instagram. The year prior she learned she had stage 1 triple-positive breast cancer.

Fischer credits the early detection of her cancer — and its ability to be treated — to not just doing routine mammograms but also breast ultrasounds. Because she has dense breasts, her mammogram results were inconclusive. Ultrasound screening can make it easier for radiologists to decipher healthy tissue from potentially cancerous tumors.

After her diagnosis, Fischer underwent a lumpectomy, chemotherapy, and radiation and is now free of cancer, per her post.