Why Julia Louis-Dreyfus Felt She Had to Open Up About Her Past Cancer Diagnosis.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus is thinking back on a difficult choice. The Seinfeld actor acknowledged that she felt compelled to reveal the health struggle more than eight years after revealing her breast cancer diagnosis to the public in 2017.
“I was kind of backed into a corner on that one,” in the December 9 episode of Amy Poehlor's Good Hang podcast, Julia, 64, provided an explanation. “It’s funny how that worked out because normally, I would not have done that. I’m very private. But because we had to shut Veep down for a year, I had to make a public thing about it. You know, 250 people weren’t going to be working.”
In fact, when the HBO satire's filming was delayed that year, the Veep alum, who played politician Selina Meyer, began receiving treatment. She revealed she was in remission a year after having a double mastectomy and six rounds of chemotherapy.
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Although Julia was reluctant to disclose her diagnosis at the time, she acknowledged that the choice had a beneficial impact on her recovery.
“I did have this incredible experience of people reaching out and asking me about going through breast cancer and advice, and I was able to help,” she recalled. “There was something unbelievably comforting about being able to do that on the other side of this trauma. There’s a lot to be said in self-soothing by soothing others.”
Additionally, Julia thanked her close friends for coming to see her during her chemotherapy treatments. She even remembered a moment when they made fun of her cold cap appearance, which reduces hair loss, to lighten the mood.
“We were shoved into this tiny little room around me, and I was high as a kite,” the former cast member of Saturday Night Live hinted. “I had this huge, weirdly shaped turban on my head and everyone around me was making fun of me. It was a dream.”
And now that she's been in remission for a few years, she's proud of the support she had from her inner group, which included numerous celebrities and her Veep co-stars.
“It was a very strong reminder of this light that was there at the end of this crazy dark tunnel through which I was traveling,” in 2019, she informed USA Today. “It was a tonic to know that was waiting on the other side. And it was such a wonderful way to make a living.”
She went on, “Don’t tell HBO this, but they wouldn’t have even had to pay me to do this. I would have done this for free. I just loved every second of it. So, in many ways, it was a lifesaver.”
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