Ananda Lewis, the beloved former MTV VJ, discuss present host, and tireless advocate, has handed away. She was 52.
The information was confirmed by her sister Lakshmi, who shared a heartfelt Fb put up asserting her passing.
“She’s free, and in his heavenly arms,” she wrote with damaged coronary heart emojis. “Lord, relaxation her soul.”
Lakshmi has since confirmed the information to TMZ noting that Ananda died from stage 4 breast most cancers at 11:35 AM on Wednesday whereas in hospice at her Los Angeles dwelling.
Supply: Paul Archuleta / Getty
Lewis was a defining voice of a era throughout her time at MTV within the late ‘90s and early 2000s, the place she labored as a correspondent on Whole Request Stay and MTV Information and lit up TV screens together with her smarts and signature appeal that gave Black women hope for a vibrant future.
In 2001, she launched The Ananda Lewis Present, an empowering syndicated daytime discuss present, and lately, she was a passionate advocate for breast most cancers consciousness, notably within the Black neighborhood, encouraging ladies to prioritize early detection.
She shared her breast most cancers prognosis in a 2020 Instagram put up, the place she defined her choice to keep away from mammograms for years on account of issues about radiation publicity.
“For a extremely very long time, I’ve refused mammograms, and that was a mistake,” mentioned Lewis on the time. “I watched my mother get mammograms for nearly 30 years, and on the finish of that, she had breast most cancers, and I mentioned, ‘Huh? Radiation publicity for years equals breast most cancers. Yeah, I’m going to move. Thanks anyway.’”
“If I had carried out the mammograms from the time they have been advisable after I turned 40, they’d’ve caught the tumor in my breast years earlier than I caught it by means of my very own self examination and thermography,” she continued. “And they’d have caught it at a spot the place it was extra manageable. The place the therapy of it will have been just a little simpler. It’s by no means straightforward, however I take advantage of that phrase compared to what I’m going by means of now. As an alternative, what I’m coping with is stage 3 breast most cancers that’s in my lymphs. I want you to get your mammograms.”
As beforehand reported, she later revealed that her breast most cancers had progressed to stage IV after initially selecting to not bear conventional remedies.
Identified in 2019 with stage 3, Lewis opted out of a double mastectomy on the time, citing each private alternative and restricted entry in the course of the COVID-19 lockdowns.
“The circumstances weren’t conducive to surgical procedure as a result of my tumor wasn’t aggressively rising on the time, after which COVID hit,” she instructed The Epoch Instances in October. As an alternative, she pursued cryoablation therapy in Arizona, which helped shrink her tumor.
Lewis instructed the publication that she adopted a strict way of life, slicing out alcohol, white flour, and sugar, and spent almost $200,000 on numerous remedies, together with insulin potentiation remedy (IPT), which she credited as extremely efficient. “If I knew what I do know now, I might’ve began with the IPT chemo instantly,” she mentioned earlier than noting that she had a community of “angels” who ensured she may proceed receiving care.
In 2023, her most cancers progressed to stage 4, spreading to her backbone, hips, and liver. Nonetheless, Lewis remained defiantly optimistic and deeply grounded in goal, particularly as a single mom to her son.
“I could have felt like I used to be dying in February, however I’m not dying, and I’m undoubtedly doing higher than I used to be final October,” she mentioned in one in every of her remaining interviews. “I feel I’ll do higher than 5 years. I’m not dying anytime quickly. I plan to get 20 extra years out of this physique.”
Lewis is survived by her 14-year-old son, who Ananda’s sister mentioned graduated at present from center faculty.
