32 Celebrities Who Have Opened Up About Living With Breast Cancer

"I remember thinking, ‘I will do anything and everything I need to do to stay alive for my daughter and make sure this has the least amount of impact on her life.’ ... There are a lot of young moms going through this and I want them to know, ‘Hey, I can do this too!’" — People

RELATED: Breast Cancer Made Me a Better Mom, and After My Diagnosis, I Changed the Way I Parented My Son

"Cancer no longer rules my life — I’m getting back to myself. I’m healed as much as anybody who’s gone through this can be, and I will continue to support and fight alongside my sisters. Once you’re in this family, you’re in for life.” — in her documentary RX Early Detection: A Cancer Journey with Sandra Lee

"The decision to have a mastectomy was not easy. But it is one I am very happy that I made. My chances of developing breast cancer have dropped from 87 percent to under 5 percent. I can tell my children that they don’t need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer ... On a personal note, I do not feel any less of a woman. I feel empowered that I made a strong choice that in no way diminishes my femininity." — The New York Times

“When you hear those three words, ‘You have cancer’ — wow — that’s coming face to face with your mortality. You never think that you’re not here forever.” — Yahoo Lifestyle

"There are two phases post surgery. There’s the 'OMG, they got it' reaction and you are just so happy they got the cancer. You are so grateful, and you think, 'I don’t care what my body looks like, I am just happy to be here.' I still feel that deep in my soul every day. This is the body I have and I’ll take it. But I’d be lying if I didn’t say there is a second phase, a window of time where you don’t even want to look at yourself. It’s jarring ... When your body heals, you start to feel better. You realize that you don’t care about the scars. You are just happy to have this body, a healthy body, no matter the lumps and bumps and problems." — TODAY

RELATED: 'Today' Star Hoda Kotb Shares an Intense Behind-the-Scenes Look at Her Daily Routine

"I do feel different, but I can’t quite articulate how. I’ve come out the other side of this, and I’m still not exactly sure how to define the difference other than to say I’m grateful, of course, but it’s more than that. It’s bigger." — Instyle

"I decided to share my infertility journey, which was very empowering, so that helped me come to the decision to share my breast cancer story as well. I thought, if this can happen to me, this can happen to anyone. I thought how all these women my age, younger, older, watch me on TV every night and if just one woman goes and does a self check, or gets a mammogram and finds her breast cancer early, wouldn’t that be incredible?" — People

"The mammogram came back perfect, but my doctor had also put in a prescription for a follow-up ultrasound, and that’s how the tumor was detected ... It was determined to be triple-negative breast cancer. I had never heard that term, and I was bewildered. Plus, I was told that, as an African-American woman, I was less likely to be diagnosed with cancer, but now that I was, I was more likely to die from it. What in heck do you do with that stat? That’s why I’m so grateful that my mom encouraged me to make my mess my message. I’m a fairly educated person, and I didn’t know a lot until I was diagnosed. I wanted other people to know that, yes, mammogram is still considered the gold standard, but if you have dense breast tissue, to ask for secondary screening." — Cure

"I didn't really want to make it public while I was going through it. I didn't want paparazzi at the hospital, that kind of thing ... I felt scared … I thought, 'Oh, I don't want this to be happening.' I was very cognizant of if it's going to happen, this is the best way for it to happen, that it's found so early and we can just get right on it." — Nightline

"There were a few lessons in my diagnosis. One of them was to put myself first on my list of those I take care of. Another one was that it's okay to say no. It's okay if people are mad at you or disappointed in you if you're following your voice and you're taking care of yourself. You can't make everybody happy and also learned that no matter how much you think you can control things in life, you really don't. I was perfectly healthy, had no family history and wound up with a breast cancer diagnosis, so some things just happen." — Country Living

"I’m going to have cute boobs 'til I’m 90, so there’s that. I’ll have the best boobs in the nursing home. I’ll be the envy of all the ladies around the bridge table." — TODAY

RELATED: The True Story Behind Christina Applegate's Double Mastectomy Scene in Netflix's 'Dead to Me’

"As I've told my friends who've also been treated for breast cancer, I've joined The Club — not one I wanted to join or even thought I would ever be joining — but here I am ... Medical diagnoses can leave you feeling alone and scared. When it comes to breast cancer you’re not alone, and scary though it is, there's a network of amazing women to help you through it." — on her blog

“It was a newfound level of support when I started to speak with other survivors ... Knowing that they got to the other side, I knew that I too could get there.” — Huffington Post

"A couple years ago I got breast cancer, and that was a good test, because I always said I'm not afraid of dying. And I wasn't. I mean, I felt, God, I've just joined a family of millions of women who have gone through this. And how interesting. What a journey this is going to be." — on Oprah's Next Chapter

"There is that moment when your world stops spinning and you think, 'Wow, I have two kids.' My first question was, 'Am I going to be here for my kids?' And my doctor said, '98% percent you're going to be here, so don't worry. We got this early.' Early detection is the key to a good prognosis. That's why women need their yearly mammograms and they need to see their doctor regularly." — Woman's Day

RELATED: 4 Ways to Find Low-Cost or Free Mammograms in Your State

"Somebody has to step up to the plate and say something to get [men] aware of how dangerous this is. Lots of men die: They wait, they don't go in, they put it off ... Don't sit around playing Mr. Tough Guy. Don't say 'It's going to go away.' It might not and you might not see life anymore and how beautiful that is." — CNN

"I still try to remember to tell the girls, ‘Get your damn mammogram. Don't fool around with this. Just get it done.' I love being a real advocate, really pushing my customers to take care of business. Don't be scared of it. Just get tested. If you've got it, do something about it." — Bustle

"Cancer is a beast that changes one. For me, it changed me in a lot of beautiful ways. But it also gave me a new level of anxiety about things. All understandable. I share my experience to help connect, bring awareness, and hopefully encourage those going through cancer to stay positive." — on her Instagram

RELATED: Shannen Doherty Credits Brian Austin Green for Helping Her Get Through 'BH90210' While Battling Breast Cancer

"It's a life-changing thing to be in a position of needing help and being so lucky as to get it. And to feel like that's okay. You can't just take care of everybody else all the time. That's almost as perspective-changing as the illness. For someone like me, that was kind of tough." — Us Weekly

"I am a better parent. I yell less and cuddle more with my daughters. I am a better wife. I yell less and choose my words more carefully, remembering we are what we say. I want to leave every room I enter better than the way I found it. I’m not saying cancer is a gift — because if it was I would gladly return it — but now that the box has been opened, so have my eyes and my heart." – ABC News