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MTV legend Ananda Lewis loses breast cancer battle

Ananda fell victim to breast cancer/YouTube

Ananda lost cancer battle.

Blog King, Mass Appeal

LOS ANGELES — “🎵It’s so hard to say goodbye to yesterday.🎵” Ananda Lewis has migrated to that big MTV studio in the sky. The quondam VJ who starred on shows like “Hot Zone” and “Total Request Live” kicked the bucket on Wednesday (June 11, 2025) amid complications from breast cancer. She was 52. Ananda’s sister, Lakshmi Emory, broke the news on Facebook. “She’s free, and in His heavenly arms,” she wrote. “Lord, rest her soul.” Ananda, if you recall, said she was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer in a 2020 Instagram post. Then, four years later, Ananda revealed that her tumor had metastasized — causing her to reach stage 4. Damn. Ananda opted to eschew having a double mastectomy and, instead, decided to “keep my tumor and try to work it out of my body a different way.” It was a decision she would later regret. “My plan at first was to get out excessive toxins in my body,” Ananda explained during an interview with CNN. “I felt like my body is intelligent, I know that to be true. Our bodies are brilliantly made… I wish I could go back. It’s important for me to admit where I went wrong with this.”

“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,” Ananda continued. “Early detection, especially for breast cancer, changes your outcome. It can save their life.” Ananda published an essay in Essence back in January. You can tell she knew she was on the verge of getting her wings.

“We’re not meant to stay here forever,” Ananda wrote.

We come to this life, have experiences — and then we go. Being real about that with yourself changes how you choose to live.”

MTV executives shared their condolences via social media.

“Through her on-air hosting and interviews, Ananda helped raise a generation of music fans,” the message read.

“Our thoughts are with her family & loved ones.”

Ananda is survived by her son Langston, 14, whom she shared with Will Smith’s little brother — Harry Smith.

Watch reports and Ananda’s CNN interview.

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This Post Has 47 Comments

  1. Damn she was gorgeous and talented !!! RIP!!! ❤❤❤❤❤ You will forever be young and gorgeous now without any pain or suffering 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 my condolences to the family may God provide them clarity.

  2. Always thought her and Chilli from
    TLC where sisters 💗🕊️ . God rest her soul.

  5. Man this is heartbreaking. I remember as a child watching Mariah Carey on TRL and Ananda hosting it. I wish that she would have chosen treatments and double mastectomy. She could very well still be alive! 😢 I pray that she accepted Jesus as her Personal Lord and Savior and had a relationship with Him.

  6. 52?!😢 that’s still a baby?!?😢 why are our Black Sistas dying so young?!?😢

  7. Ananda made the same mistake as Steve Jobs by rejecting modern medicine. Gone too soon.

  12. Cancer really really sucks. I always used to watch MTV when Ananda was on, that was a great time in MTV. I pray she’s at peace and with the heavenly angels.

  14. I hope people understand her death was potentially avoidable. She delayed getting mammograms that could’ve detected her cancer much sooner & then she sought alternative treatment aka fruits,vegetables,water & random herbs 🙄. Shockingly that didn’t work & by then it was too late for actual medicine to help. Misinformation & fear of the healthcare system killed her. Stop getting medical advice from wellness gurus on the internet.

  17. I watched her as a kid on Teen Summit. Then on MTV and when she had her talk show as a young adult I watched that too.

    She said she had been journaling since childhood. I hope her son is loved, cared for and blessed.

    May she rest in GODs arms forever more in JESUS NAME!

  18. I was a big fan back in the day. We’re the same age.💜😇💜

  21. Omg I remember her!!! She was so sweet!!! I had no idea she was battling cancer,God rest her soul ♥️🙏🕊️

  22. My mother did the same as Ananda, and she also died from breast cancer a few months ago. She tried ivermectin and fenbendazole. Ironically, my professor had breast cancer several years before my mother and got a double mastectomy. She is still alive and well.

  23. When people need their cars fixed they go to a mechanic. Same people when they get sick turn to the internet and whatever is the latest fad homeopathic treatment instead of listening to trained medical professionals. She died because of willfull ignorance and vanity (declining double mastectomy).

  24. It’s not just the double mastectomy. Microscopic malignant cells can move through the body. She needed chemo and radiation if she was stage 3 initially and she opted for holistic and alternative treatment. I wish she would have touched on that also, if she would have done aggressive treatment right at the start, she would likely still be here.

  27. Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

  28. This breaks my heart into pieces. I used to think that she and Tatianna Ali looked so much alike. Father God, please keep her beautiful son in the palm of your hands. May he walk the path of greatness. REST PEACEFULLY BEAUTIFUL LADY.🙏🏾🕊🥲❤🕊💔

  29. Most of us know her from BET and they didn’t even mention this. 🤷🏽‍♂️

  30. Once you have children you have to be extra mindful of taking care of your health! This could have been prevented.

  36. She chose quality of life over quantity. I’ve chosen the same path. Chemo & radiation is not a cure! As a society we need to focus on FINDING THE CAUSE and healthier screening methods. Mammograms dispense radiation and trauma to the breast and doesn’t detect all cancers. Unfortunately, I’ve a rare form of breast cancer which traditional medicine causes more harm than good yet they want to pump me up with these toxic chemicals with no guarantee recurrence. We as a society need to demand they focus on FINDING THE CAUSE and then they’ll find a CURE cause sadly breast cancer is on the raise, some are not being picked up by mammograms and more young women are being diagnosed. Its a money making industry from mammograms, ultrasound, MRI, PET Scan, treatment bankrupting families.

  38. @mystorey: She was scared, but when it reached to stage 4, it was too late to get surgery.

  39. I’m sorry but who gets diagnosed with stage 3 cancer and ignores the doctors recommendations. So basically she risked her life for femininity?😮

  41. I believe in integrative medicine and support anyone who chooses to decline conventional medicine and follow alternative medicine. But as a breast cancer survivor who did conventional treatments and now works in the holistic health and wellness sector I’m the poster child for early detection thru regular mammograms.

  42. Chemo and mastectomy suck but unfortunately it’s the best we have right now. Hopefully medicine will evolve and woman won’t have to mutilate themselves anymore.

  43. People are taking this lack of trust for conventional medicine too far and it’s costing them their lives. Knew a woman who had an ectopic pregnancy that kept refusing to get an abortion. There was no way that the fetus would survive such a pregnancy and no way for her to survive. The doctor begged her to have an abortion. She eventually did, but this woman was a nurse, ya’ll.

  45. She was a 90’s fixture for all us 90’s kids and teens. Part of our childhood.

  46. Stop donating to anything tied to cancer/disease “research”. It’s making the problem worse. Pharmaceutical companies have zero interest in getting anyone well.
    Remarkably fit people wouldn’t be dying at 52 from cancer, after undergoing years of treatment if these companies wanted to help people get well. It’s ludicrous

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