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Yahoo
20 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Ananda Lewis, Celebrated MTV VJ, Dead at 52
Ananda Lewis, a former MTV VJ during the late Nineties and who shared her breast cancer journey with fans, has died at the age of 52. Lewis' death was confirmed today in a Facebook post by her sister, Lakshmi Emory. Lewis revealed in 2020 that she had been diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. In her video announcement at the time, she urged women to practice early detection and to get mammograms. More from Rolling Stone Brian Wilson, Beach Boys Co-Founder and Architect of Pop, Dead at 82 Questlove, Clairo, Earthgang, and More Remember Sly Stone: He 'Was a Giant' Billy Jones, Baby's All Right Owner and Key Player in New York Music Scene, Dead at 45 'I need you to share this with the women in your life who may be as stubborn as I was about mammograms and I need you to tell them that they have to do it,' Lewis said in her 2020 Instagram post. 'Early detection, especially for breast cancer, changes your outcome. It can save their life.' Lewis was hired by MTV in 1997 as one of their video jockeys, and she would go on to host the shows Total Request Live and Hot Zone. In 2001 she started her own talk show, The Ananda Lewis Show, which ran from 2001 to 2002. Lewis would later join The Insider, an Entertainment Tonight spinoff as a correspondent from 2004 to 2005. During the revival of TLC's While You Were Out in 2019, Lewis returned as the show's host. Last October, Lewis said that her cancer had progressed to stage 4. During a discussion with CNN's correspondents Stephanie Elam and Sarah Sidner, who was also diagnosed with breast cancer in 2024, Lewis opened up about her treatment path. 'This journey is very personal and you have to do what works for you and only you,' she said. Her fellow former MTV VJ Dave Holmes remembered Lewis on social media following news of her death. 'She was the best: friendly funny kind clever cool committed passionate patient stylish and smart. If you were working with her, you knew you'd be having fun, and you'd want to step your game up to match her effortless charisma. You couldn't, but the trying made you better,' he wrote in an Instagram post alongside a photo of Lewis and the song 'Someday We'll Know' by the New Radicals. 'We bonded over our shared love of this song, it has reminded me of her ever since, and now it always will.' Best of Rolling Stone The 50 Best 'Saturday Night Live' Characters of All Time Denzel Washington's Movies Ranked, From Worst to Best 70 Greatest Comedies of the 21st Century
American Military News
16-06-2025
- Entertainment
- American Military News
Former MTV VJ Ananda Lewis dies after battle with breast cancer
Ananda Lewis, former MTV video jockey and television show host, has died at 52 after a years-long battle with breast cancer. Lewis rose to fame on BET's 'Teen Summit' and hosted 'The Ananda Lewis Show' in the early aughts, before being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2019. Her sister, Lakshmi Emory, broke the news of Lewis' death in a Facebook post, writing, '[S]he's free and in His heavenly arms. Lord rest her soul.' Emory told TMZ that Lewis died Wednesday morning from Stage 4 breast cancer while in hospice care at her Los Angeles home. Lewis grew up in San Diego and graduated from Howard University in 1995. She began her entertainment career as the host of 'Teen Summit,' where she discussed issues affecting teenagers and interviewed then-first lady Hillary Clinton. MTV then hired her to be a VJ in 1997 and she quickly gained popularity hosting shows such as 'Total Request Live' and 'Hot Zone.' In 1999, the New York Times called her 'the hip-hop generation's reigning It Girl.' She left the network in 2001 to host her own talk show and later worked as a correspondent for entertainment news show 'The Insider.' She revealed her cancer diagnosis in a 2020 Instagram post, saying that she had not been getting mammograms due to her fears around radiation and urging her follows to make sure they are staying on top of their breast exams. '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 said. She spoke at length about her battle with the disease in a 2024 roundtable discussion with CNN correspondents Stephanie Elam, who was one of her close friends, and Sara Sidner, a breast cancer survivor. Lewis described first discovering a lump in her breast in 2019 and said that, although doctors recommended a double mastectomy at the time, she opted to pursue alternative therapies and focus on cleansing her body of toxins and emotional stress. She later relocated to Arizona, where she combined holistic and conventional treatments through approaches such as insulin-potentiation chemotherapy — where patients take lower chemotherapy doses because of a theory that insulin lets more of the drug enter cells. She said she encountered financial difficulties that made it challenging to keep up with her holistic regimen of treatment. By October 2023, her scans showed that the cancer had metastasized in her spine, through her hips and into her lymph nodes. During the roundtable, Lewis highlighted the fact that Black women are at a disproportionately high risk of dying from breast cancer, attributing that, in part, to a mistrust of the medical system. 'Our inability to be comfortable with doctors goes way back,' she said. 'We have a rightful distrust of the medical industry that we need to get over, but we are not going to negate that it came from somewhere and that it's real.' Although Black women and white women are affected by breast cancer at similar rates, Black women are around 40% more likely to die from the disease, according to data compiled by the American Cancer Society. ___ © 2025 Los Angeles Times. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Arab Times
14-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Arab Times
Ananda Lewis, who publicly shared breast cancer journey, dies at 52
LOS ANGELES, June 14, (AP): Ananda Lewis, the former MTV and BET host who became a beloved television personality in the 1990s with her warmth and authenticity, has died. She was 52. Her sister, Lakshmi Emory, confirmed Lewis' death in a Facebook post Wednesday. Lewis had been battling breast cancer. "She's free, and in His heavenly arms,' Emory wrote. "Lord, rest her soul.' Lewis, a San Diego native, made a name for herself as a host on BET's "Teen Summit,' which tackled issues facing Black youth and featured community leaders, entertainers, and politicians. She landed big interviews with Kobe Bryant, Tupac Shakur, and Louis Farrakhan and then-first lady Hillary Clinton, which earned her an NAACP Image Award. After a few seasons, Lewis took her talents over to MTV in 1997. She was a host and veejay on "MTV Live.' "Hot Zone' and "Total Request Live," a daily top 10 video countdown show. Lewis told The Associated Press that she felt some backlash after moving from BET to MTV. "I wouldn't say in a strong way because I think most people who were in my fan base at 'Teen Summit' understand that growth is necessary,' she said. "One of the main things we dealt with on a consistent basis, like the underlying theme of all the shows is you've got to get out there and live your life. The bottom line is this is about you, so how do you want to grow and whom do you want to develop into? My justification is that I say to kids: 'be your best and take advantage of every opportunity,' so I couldn't sit in a place of not taking advantage of an opportunity." In 2001, Lewis told the AP that she wasn't trying to reinvent daytime talk with her new syndicated series, "The Ananda Lewis Show.' "There's only so much different you can do in daytime, which is what I'm learning. There's a certain way, I guess, people are used to doing things and that way's not going to change for a while,' she said. "I think there's a formula, and some cases have proven that formula works. So the objective isn't to reinvent the wheel but to make it spin a little more smoothly.' Lewis' show lasted only one season. But a few years later, she became a correspondent for "The Insider,' a spinoff of "Entertainment Tonight." Lewis was open about her cancer journey since she publicly shared her diagnosis in 2020. At that time, the disease was initially stage 3 before it advanced to stage 4 last year. She had been living with breast cancer for six years. Lewis said doctors recommended a double mastectomy, but she opted for alternative methods. She eventually realized that was the wrong measure, becoming an advocate for being up-to-date with mammogram checkups. "I need you to share this with the women in your life who may be as stubborn as I was about mammograms, and I need you to tell them that they have to do it,' Lewis said in her announcement. "Early detection, especially for breast cancer, changes your outcome. It can save their life.'
USA Today
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
CNN reporter holds back tears recalling final moments before death of MTV VJ Ananda Lewis
CNN reporter holds back tears recalling final moments before death of MTV VJ Ananda Lewis Show Caption Hide Caption Beyoncé's mom, Tina Knowles, reveals she had breast cancer Beyoncé's mom, Tina Knowles, has revealed that she privately battled breast cancer. She opened up about her 2024 diagnosis. unbranded - Entertainment A pair of CNN stars are remembering MTV video jockey Ananda Lewis, who died earlier this week from breast cancer. Holding back tears, CNN anchor Sara Sidner told viewers this is "a story I didn't want to have to tell you" before she was later joined by their mutual friend and network correspondent Stephanie Elam, who visited the former "Teen Summit" star the day before she died on June 11. Elam said she drove from an overnight shift, after covering the Los Angeles protests, to hold the hand of her "ride or die" Lewis. The next day, Elam said she planned to return to visit Lewis again. CNN anchor Sara Sidner tearfully reveals breast cancer diagnosis: 'Hard to say out loud' "After I got off the air, I looked down and had a message from her beautiful big sister who has been such a strong champion for her and has kept me abreast of everything and messaged me and told me that she passed away right before I finished that last hit," Elam said. "And, so it was too late. "One thing that I want everyone to know is that she was at peace with this decision," Elam said of Lewis. "She had come to grips with it." The Los Angeles-based reporter for CNN said her friend's condition changed quicker than expected, explaining that "we thought we had weeks, and it turned out that it turned into days and then it was actually just a matter of hours." Elam said she and Lewis met before their freshman year at Howard University, a premier historically Black university in Washington, D.C. Lewis was one of the first big video jockeys on MTV. She was a groundbreaking face on the network after she first started her career by hosting "Teen Summit" on BET after graduating from Howard. In 1997, she joined MTV where she hosted "Total Request Live" and "Hot Zone." After leaving MTV in 2001, she hosted her own short-lived syndicated talk show, "The Ananda Lewis Show." Sara Sidner revealed her own stage 3 cancer diagnosis live on CNN Last year, Sidner revealed that she was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer, telling viewers on-air on CNN she was in her second month of chemotherapy treatments and would receive radiation and a double mastectomy. "I have never been sick a day of my life," Sidner told viewers. "I don't smoke. I rarely drink. Breast cancer does not run in my family. And yet here I am, with stage 3 breast cancer. It is hard to say out loud." In October, Sidner and Lewis sat down with Elam to talk about their respective cancer journeys where the latter took a more holistic route. During the talk, Lewis discussed her outlook on the diagnosis, which she decided to treat more naturally. "The cancer diagnosis caused me to change things in my life I never would have changed otherwise, that I needed to change but would not change," she said on CNN. "And those changes have allowed me access to more of my joy, more of the time."
Winnipeg Free Press
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
Ananda Lewis, former MTV and BET host who publicly shared breast cancer journey, dies
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ananda Lewis, the former MTV and BET host who became a beloved television personality in the 1990s with her warmth and authenticity, has died. She was 52. Her sister, Lakshmi Emory, confirmed Lewis' death in a Facebook post Wednesday. Lewis had been battling breast cancer. 'She's free, and in His heavenly arms,' Emory wrote. 'Lord, rest her soul.' Lewis, a San Diego native, made a name for herself as a host on BET's 'Teen Summit,' which tackled issues facing Black youth and featured community leaders, entertainers and politicians. She landed big interviews with Kobe Bryant, Tupac Shakur and Louis Farrakhan and then-first lady Hillary Clinton, which earned her an NAACP Image Award. After a few seasons, Lewis took her talents over to MTV in 1997. She was a host and veejay on 'MTV Live.' 'Hot Zone' and 'Total Request Live,' a daily top 10 video countdown show. Lewis told The Associated Press that she felt some backlash after moving from BET to MTV. 'I wouldn't say in a strong way because I think most people who were in my fan base at 'Teen Summit' understand that growth is necessary,' she said. 'One of the main things we dealt with on a consistent basis, like the underlying theme of all the shows is you've got to get out there and live your life. The bottom line is this is about you, so how do you want to grow and whom do you want to develop into? My justification is that I say to kids: 'be your best and take advantage of every opportunity,' so I couldn't sit in a place of not taking advantage of an opportunity.' In 2001, Lewis told the AP that she wasn't trying to reinvent daytime talk with her new syndicated series, 'The Ananda Lewis Show.' 'There's only so much different you can do in daytime, which is what I'm learning. There's a certain way, I guess, people are used to doing things and that way's not going to change for a while,' she said. 'I think there's a formula, and some cases have proven that formula works. So the objective isn't to reinvent the wheel but to make it spin a little more smoothly.' Lewis' show lasted only one season. But a few years later, she became a correspondent for 'The Insider,' a spinoff of 'Entertainment Tonight.' Lewis was open about her cancer journey since she publicly shared her diagnosis in 2020. At that time, the disease was initially stage 3 before it advanced to stage 4 last year. She had been living with breast cancer for six years. Lewis said doctors recommended a double mastectomy, but she opted for alternative methods. She eventually realized that was the wrong measure, becoming an advocate for being up-to-date with mammogram checkups. 'I need you to share this with the women in your life who may be as stubborn as I was about mammograms, and I need you to tell them that they have to do it,' Lewis said in her announcement. 'Early detection, especially for breast cancer, changes your outcome. It can save their life.'
