Former MTV VJ Ananda Lewis has died.
The beloved Total Request Live alum was just 52 years old when she succumbed to her battle with breast cancer this week.
Ananda’s sister Lakshmi revealed the news in a Facebook post on Wednesday, sharing a black-and-white picture of Ananda alongside a series of broken heart emojis and this message:
“She’s free, and in His heavenly arms. Lord, rest her soul”
So awful.
Ananda, as you may recall, first rocketed to fame in 1997 when she was hired to be one of MTV’s VJs. Soon, she was regularly hosting shows including TRL and Hot Zone. Alongside other hosts like Carson Daly, she was one of MTV’s most popular personalities — even reaching her peak of national acclaim in 1999 when the New York Times called her “the hip-hop generation’s reigning It Girl.” She left MTV a few years after that to host her own talk show, and her career progressed from there.
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In 2020, she announced on Instagram that she’d been diagnosed with breast cancer. At the time, she revealed that she hadn’t been getting regular mammograms like doctors advise women do because of her fear of radiation. After missing several, when she finally did go get diagnosed, doctors found that the cancer had already progressed to stage 3.
Four years later, in a roundtable discussion held with CNN journalists Stephanie Elam and Sara Sidner last October, Ananda revealed that she again went against medical advice by choosing not to have a double mastectomy after her diagnosis. In those four years, her stage 3 cancer had developed into stage four, and her tumor had metastasized.
During that discussion last October, Ananda explained what her thought process had been in trying to look for alternative ways to attack the cancer growing in her body:
“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. I decided to keep my tumor and try to work it out of my body a different way.”
And in a truly heartbreaking follow-up, she added:
“I wish I could go back. It’s important for me to admit where I went wrong with this.”
Wow.
Lewis made headlines again back in January when she penned an essay in Essence in which she emphasized that “prevention is the real cure” for cancer. In that powerful message, she urged other women to pay attention to their bodies. She also reflected on her own mortality, and the meaning of life:
“We’re not meant to stay here forever. We come to this life, have experiences — and then we go. 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. 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.'”
So poignant — and so sad.
Like we said, Lewis was just 52. She leaves behind a son, Langston, whom she welcomed back in 2011 with ex-partner Harry Smith, the brother of actor Will Smith.
Sending all our condolences to Langston and all the rest of Ananda’s family members, friends, and loved ones right now.
R.I.P.
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