Ananda Lewis: Former MTV VJ Dies Aged 52 after Battling Stage Four Breast Cancer after Refusing Double Mastectomy

International Business Times

2 days ago

Ananda Lewis, a former MTV VJ and talk show host, has died at the age of 52 following a long fight with breast cancer. The heartbreaking news was shared by her sister, Lakshmi, in a brief post on Facebook shared on Wednesday, June 11. She posted a black-and-white photo of Ananda along with the caption: "She's free, and in His heavenly arms. Lord, rest her soul [prayer emoji]"
Lakshmi told TMZ that Ananda passed away on the same day her 14-year-old son, Langston, graduated from middle school. Ananda shares her only child, Langston, with her husband Harry Smith, 54, who is the younger brother of Oscar-winning actor Will Smith, 56.
Gone too Soon
Lewis' death this week comes almost five years after she revealed her Stage 3 breast cancer diagnosis in an Instagram post back in October 2020. "This is tough for me, but if just ONE woman decides to get her mammogram after watching this, what I'm going through will be worth it," she wrote in the caption of the video while announcing her cancer diagnosis two years ago.
In October 2024, she shared that her cancer had advanced to stage IV, following her earlier decision to forgo a double mastectomy at the time of her initial diagnosis.
Lewis explained that she initially chose not to have a double mastectomy, saying, "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. I wish I could go back," she added. "It's important for me to admit where I went wrong with this."
Earlier this year, just months before her death, the former VJ and talk show host said in an Essence magazine feature that "prevention is the real cure."
Star in Her Own Right
Lewis rose to fame in 1997 after joining MTV as a video jockey. During her time there, she hosted several shows, including "Total Request Live" and "Hot Zone." In 2001, she decided to leave MTV to launch her own daytime talk show, "The Ananda Lewis Show," which debuted in September of that year and ran for one season.
"I wanted a change," she told Teen People at the time. "It was a matter of proving to myself that I can do [this]."
However, Lewis later regretted about jumping into her own talk show so quickly, admitting that it was "overkill."
"I wish I had stopped the people that wanted me to do the show and said, 'Not yet, it's a little too early to do this.' It was overkill for me," she said after her show was canceled. "It wasn't what I felt like I signed up for."
After taking a short hiatus from television following "The Ananda Lewis Show," Lewis made a comeback as a correspondent on "The Insider," a spin-off of "Entertainment Tonight," where she worked from 2004 to 2005.
She also went on to appear in the reality series "Celebrity Mole: Yucatán," and served as the host for A&E's "America's Top Dog" and TLC's "While You Were Out."