Ananda Lewis passed away at 51 after a years-long battle with breast cancer that spread to her spine and hips by late 2023.
Ananda Lewis died Tuesday (June 11) following a years-long fight with metastatic breast cancer, her family confirmed. She was 52.
The former MTV VJ and daytime talk show host had been living with stage IV breast cancer, which had spread to her spine and hips by late 2023.
Lewis first revealed her diagnosis in 2020, a year after she was initially told she had stage III cancer.
She had discovered a lump during a self-exam and later admitted she had avoided mammograms for years due to concerns about radiation exposure.
Doctors advised her to undergo a double mastectomy, but she declined the surgery.
“My plan at first was to get out excessive toxins in my body,” she told CNN. “I felt like my body is intelligent. I know that to be true. Our bodies are brilliantly made. Looking back on that, I go: ‘You know what? Maybe I should have had the mastectomy.’ But I didn’t have good options. They wanted to take both. They wanted to do all these big things that I was not ready for.”
Instead, she turned to a mix of holistic therapies, chemotherapy, radiation, and lifestyle changes including diet and detoxing.
Lewis chose to monitor the tumor’s growth with monthly ultrasounds rather than remove it.
But during the COVID-19 pandemic, she noticed the tumor had grown. By October 2023, scans confirmed the cancer had metastasized.
Lewis rose to prominence in the late 1990s as a host on BET’s Teen Summit before becoming a fixture on MTV’s Total Request Live.
Her charisma and sharp interviewing style made her a standout during the golden era of music television. She later hosted her own daytime talk show, “The Ananda Lewis Show,” which aired for one season in 2001.
In recent years, Lewis had stepped away from the spotlight to focus on motherhood and carpentry, often sharing glimpses of her life and wellness journey on social media.
She is survived by her son and extended family.
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