12 Celebrities Who Have Opened Up About Having Breast Cancer From Elissa To Kylie Minogue

In honour of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, US actress Shannen Doherty opened up on social media about her own journey with the disease.

The Beverly Hills, star, 50, revealed last year that her cancer had returned after going into remission in 2017. On Thursday, she offered fans a true glimpse of her life, sharing “my own personal journey from my first diagnosis to my second”.

“Is it all pretty?” she wrote on Instagram. “No, but it’s truthful and my hope in sharing is that we all become more educated, more familiar with what cancer looks like.

“I hope I encourage people to get mammograms, to get regular check-ups, to cut thru the fear and face whatever might be in front of you.”

Alongside her words, Doherty posted photos of herself, one with a bloodied tissue up her nose and another of her wearing pyjamas and a sleep mask, which were covered in illustrations of Sesame Street’s Cookie Monster, which she said cheered her up.

“I looked ridiculous and in that ridiculousness, I was able to laugh at myself. Finding humour helped get me thru what seemed impossible. I hope we all find humour in the impossible.”

Doherty is far from the only celebrity to have been brave enough to talk about their experience with the disease, which kills a woman every 13 minutes, according to the National Breast Cancer Coalition in the US. In 2020, 684,996 people died from the disease, according to the World Health Organisation. In the UAE, it is the most common cancer among women.

Here are some of the other celebrities who have opened up about their fight with breast cancer: