Former MTV VJ Ananda Lewis is DEAD TO ME!

If she'd had a mastectomy, she'd likely be alive today.

That's really sad. I lost a dear friend last month. She was only 48.

Never heard of her. I remember the OGs - Nina Blackwood, Martha Quinn, Mark Goodman (major crush), Alan Hunter, and JJ Jackson.

She was one of the less annoying VJs back then

RIP

OMG. R.I.P. I only know her via MTV and had not even thought about her in years.

I worked at King World the year her talk show was supposed to be the next Oprah. Didn't work out.

She was and she was visibly annoyed by Kennedy who turned out even worse than we thought

She wasn't foundational MTV for me (I'm 52). But she was around when I was still watching it regularly. I forgot she had a stint on BET.

I briefly looked at Kennedy's Wiki page. I didn't realize it was THAT bad. Conservative but saying she's "libertarian." Ugh.

I always liked her on MTV, such sad news. I grew up with MTV in the 80s and watched it until my young adult years in the late 90s, which was when Ananda was a VJ. When it became the Britney/N Sync channel I stopped watching, as did a lot of people my age.

[quote]Never heard of her. I remember the OGs - Nina Blackwood, Martha Quinn, Mark Goodman (major crush), Alan Hunter, and JJ Jackson.

You had already aged out of the MTV demographic for quite a while before Ananda was a VJ.

R3 she was a VJ in the 90s. And one of the more tolerable ones.

I always liked her as a VJ and this is very sad news. RIP.

I gasped. Sad. Seems like I just saw her in something.

This is really sad. I grew up watching her in the 90s and early 2000s era of MTV. RIP.

^^Mafuckin'!!

I remember you well from MTV.

Rest In Peace, Ms. Ananda Lewis.

R15 Why did you get off your medicine?

😆 lawd. As if I could ever look like that.

She went the holistic route. I hope this encourages people to stick to traditional medicine for cancer and other serious illness. I know two people who beat pancreatic cancer because their doctors caught it early. Loons like RFK Jr are going to cause a lot of damage.

I always liked her on MTV. Thought she was gorgeous.

But reading this article, it sounds like she was way, way off in prescribing her own cancer treatment plan.

[italic]Ananda Lewis has died at the age of 52.

The former MTV VJ's sister Lakshmi announced news of her death in a Facebook post shared on Wednesday, June 11.

"She’s free, and in His heavenly arms," she wrote, alongside a series of broken heart emojis and a black and white portrait of Lewis. "Lord, rest her soul 🙏🏽"

Lewis became well known in 1997 when she was hired to be one of MTV’s VJs, hosting shows like Total Request Live and Hot Zone. In 1999, The New York Times dubbed her “the hip-hop generation's reigning It Girl.” She left MTV in 2001 to host her own talk show, The Ananda Lewis Show.

Lewis revealed in a 2020 Instagram post that she had been diagnosed with stage III breast cancer. She said that she had not been getting regular mammograms because of her fear of radiation. In October 2024, Lewis took part in a roundtable discussion with CNN’s Stephanie Elam (her friend from college) and CNN anchor Sara Sidner in which she revealed that she went against medical advice and did not have a double mastectomy after she was diagnosed. Her tumor had metastasized, and her cancer had progressed to stage IV, she shared.

“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,” Lewis said. “I decided to keep my tumor and try to work it out of my body a different way. . . . I wish I could go back. It’s important for me to admit where I went wrong with this.”[/italic]

poor lady!

the talk show aired at the same time the wtc was bombed, bad timing and they didnt pivot to more serious conversation

RIP. Awful news. I wish she'd had that mastectomy in the beginning, she has left a 14 year old child without a mother.

R21 The thing is a lot of the new shows that premiered that fall were simply preempted by the attacks themselves. The 3-4 weeks after the attacks, was non stop on site coverage especially during the day.

This woman is an idiot. She was basically RFK. She killed herself. What an asshole to do that to your child.

She didn’t get mammograms because her mother got mammograms and got breast cancer anyway. Uh, what? She got her first mammogram at 47. She decided not to have a mastectomy and chemo after being diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. Instead she began taking vitamin c. Huh? Chemo and surgery was just too much to do with homeschooling her child. Was Amanda special needs?

In 1998, while at MTV, Lewis made headlines when she announced that she intended to remain abstinent for at least six months. She states:

I made the decision for selfish reasons, but I'm going public here because I realized I might be able to help other girls, too. I know the kind of drama that being sexually active brings to your life. I felt that if it was good for me to take a break, it might be good for other young girls, too. You see, I think I would be a whole different person if I hadn't had sex so early. Everybody was saying, "Do it!" but nobody ever said, "You don't have to do it". I think hearing that would have made a huge difference in my life.

It’s very sad. Her logic is flawed. Breast cancer is so longer a death sentence today because of medicine and technology so you take an old school approach to it, you’re going to get old school results.

She thought that mammograms magically stop you from developing breast cancer. This was Darwin at work.

She expressed her regrets for falling for the woo woo. It's crazy how many memes I see about natural cancer cures and mammograms causing cancer. I keep seeing one about tumors being Gods way of protecting you from cancer and biopsies letting all the seeds of cancer out.. It"s monsterous and only going to get worse under Trump's band of grifters

Homeopathic "medicine" is complete shit. You need modern medicine to combat serious illnesses. Tina Turner treated her high blood pressure with homeopathic bullshit and it did nothing. She eventually got kidney disease that killed her. If she'd taken blood pressure meds she'd still be alive today.

[quote]You had already aged out of the MTV demographic for quite a while before Ananda was a VJ.

I know - which is why I wasn't watching MTV by then.

I remember how calm and cool she was reporting live from the shitshow that was Woodstock '99 (which I almost attended, thank god I didn't). She was very professional amidst the douchebro chaos all around.

I hope she and Steve Jobs have a great conversation about how they fucked up with their cancer diagnoses. They belong in the camp of, "I don't go to the doctor because they always find something."

I went to the doctor because I thought I broke my toe. My doctor gave me a full physical because i hadn't had one in a very long time. She discovered my high blood pressure and cholesterol, both of which kill lots of African-Americans (which I am). I'm glad I stubbed my toe. I'm still alive and treating something that could have killed me.

Her sister is a doctor. I wonder if some sort of unconscious sibling competitiveness influenced her to reject her sister’s field.

She was diagnosed at the age of 45, so it’s not like she had been ignoring instructions to get a mammogram for decades and she acknowledged that it was a mistake. Seems odd that she didn’t treat the cancer aggressively after the diagnosed, though.

I remember the first time I saw her on MTV, as host of MTV Live, the far superior predecessor to TRL. I had never seen someone so cool on TV. She had such an ease about her. RIP.

At least she takes responsibility for her bad choices. That might indirectly help a lot of people make better choices regarding surgery and chemo and the lot.

Irena Cara look a like .

R35 very much agree. Remember when peripheral celebrities like her were cool. Now, there all just kiss asses or flunkies. She was often cooler than the A list stars she was interviewing. She and Aaliyah were besties. She started on BET’s Teen Submit.

[quote] Remember when peripheral celebrities like her were cool. Now, there all just kiss asses or flunkies. She was often cooler than the A list stars she was interviewing.

100% true.

Because now, R38, everyone is so sycophantic. Ananda’s 2025 counterpart would begin by looking and talking like everyone else, and then she would fawn over her mediocre subject with words like “iconic.” It’s all about aesthetics and filtered illusion now. No depth. No humanity.

She was beautiful.

Elle MacPherson pulled this shit too with her breast cancer diagnosis...the whole "I think my body knows how to fight this disease, I don't need anything else besides letting my body do its thing."

Elle is still alive at this point but has gotten a lot of backlash for her doling out shit stupid advice while Ananda is dead...but at least admitted to the fact that she made a serious error in not getting treatment.

People like that are just as bad/stupid as the ones who refuse medical treatment because they believe "God will take care of them," not medical intervention.

If you believe in God, you should believe that the development of medical treatment was part of his plan, too, and exists to help people!

I heard some interview with her where she said "I wanted to keep my tumor, so I didn't have surgery." Glad that worked out for her. Another science denier with a microphone.

I had colon cancer, which has a similar treatment. In my case, surgery was curative. However, many people opt to not have the surgery I have, especially if, like me, they catch it at an early stage. I just don’t fucking get it. I didn’t hesitate. I wanted it the fuck out of me!

So many of these low-information people try holistic therapies and say “my body will get rid of the cancer itself.” Nope…your body created the cancer. It’s literally your own cells that mutated into cancer.

R30 Lawd I ain’t never heard of nobody treating high blood pressure holistically. Smdh.

Well Tina Turner did, Teacake. And then she died.

r44 A lot of people who reject proven medical treatments are very religious. As such, logic and science don't weigh heavily in their reasoning.

[quote] Tina Turner treated her high blood pressure with homeopathic bullshit and it did nothing. She eventually got kidney disease that killed her. If she'd taken blood pressure meds she'd still be alive today.

I never read this. She got a kidney translate from her husband. Where’d you hear about homeopathic medicine?

*transplant

R44, I can understand. Why wait around for it to come back? Just get it out.

Suzanne Somers went natural and did live for a long time but she did end up dying from breast cancer in the end.

You know what happens to many tumors that don't get removed? They actually begin making their way OUT of the body. Look up "fungating tumor" for some nightmare fuel.

[quote] Fungating tumors, also known as ulcerating cancers or malignant fungating wounds, occur when a tumor breaks through the skin's surface and forms a wound.

Hopefully it didn't get to that point for her. But that shit happens and it's horrific.

R33 here. I didn't mean to imply there are necessarily homeopatic ways to treat HBP, but you can change your diet to help lower it. I lowered my A1C by reducing my intake of simple carbs. What I was referring to is not getting a mammogram until you're 45 and finding out it's stage 3 already. An earlier mammo might have helped her.

My mom had breast cancer twice and her aunt died of it in the 80s.

By the time I was 45, I'd had at least three mammograms since my Great Aunt died of it, my mom was an only child (no sisters to see whether they developed breast cancer) and there was at least a pretty decent chance I might be carrying the breast cancer gene as well (at that point, the genetic testing wasn't widely available to check whether I was a carrier or not).

I found out years later that I was NOT a carrier of the gene. But you better bet that - before that option was available to me - I let my docs know about the familial link and wanted to do what I could to be vigilant about the possibility of it happening to me.

Has "Downtown" Julie Brown made a statement other than "wubba, wubba, wubba?"

A lot of people who rely on woo are morons and they think they're smarter than doctors. The internet allows them to find one another and echo their chambers. Bow Trump's idiots are making it worse. I long for the days when these idiots just had a bulletin board at the local hippie food co-op

[quote]She didn’t get mammograms because her mother got mammograms and got breast cancer anyway.

This is so fucked up.

And as another poster said, she's left a 14YO kid with no mother. If you want to do goofy hippy-dippy shit on your own time, go ahead. But if you have children, you have a responsibility to try to stay alive.

r49 it was written about in several sources.

[quote]Has "Downtown" Julie Brown made a statement other than "wubba, wubba, wubba?"

Why would she? She was long gone from MTV by the time Ananda came on.

If her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer at 47 she should have had a mammogram by 37.

It’s up to the person to decide what they want to do. Doctors differ. Some are more conservative. Surgery can lead to stroke and other issues. You have to weigh your options and what your quality of life will be. Ananda is another case entirely. Her reasons for not getting mammograms are frankly downright retarded.

Shannen Doherty was also 52 when she died of breast cancer last year.

[quote]I never read this. She got a kidney translate from her husband. Where’d you hear about homeopathic medicine?

For R49…

The father of her son is Will Smith's brother.

R49 It’s probably a fucking lie. She was 83 when she died.

What did she do after MTV and the failed talk show?

[quote] What did she do after MTV and the failed talk show?

Not have mammograms for fear of "the radiation."

R67 Basically the 21st century version of an op-Ed writer but ALL MEDIA.

That’s a shame about Tina but it sounds like she had a bunch of things wrong with her and she couldn’t think properly so she stopped her prescription. It doesn’t sound like she just dumped everything and went holistic. It sounds much more complicated. People do that. They try to concentrate on one health issue and another suffers.

Tina was big into euthanasia and had looked into it when she was told she would need a kidney. I wonder if she ended her life herself at the end. Cher said that she seemed to be in a very bad state. Tina didn’t fear death at all. She was very zen about it all.

When you influence someone to such a degree. It all becomes flattery. AI, schizophrenia—the motive becomes irrelevant. Thank you.

Accordinng to her Wiki, Ananda was a total CUNT to her mother, during her teenage years.

So fuck her.

You knew her mother, r73?

Half of DL doesn’t talk to their families.

Didn’t Amanda and Carson Daly get started at MTV around the same time?

Yes, R76. Carson had started a few months prior. Summer of 97, I believe. But in fall of 97 MTV launched their Times Square studio with a show called MTV Live. Carson, Amanda, and Tobie Amies were the three hosts. For whatever reason, Carson stood out and when the show rebranded as TRL, he was the sole host. Ananda kept on as a VJ. Not sure about Tobie.

This is what these online holistic communities do - they convince these women about healing naturally and all sorts of bullshit. Use essential oils!!

When you're at stage 3 - you've got to act fast.

I hate to say it - but she died of her stubbornness and wishful thinking. It taints her image to me.

I remember around that time I was on their short lived show 12 angry viewers. Even though Wikipedia has Ananda as the host, when I taped that day Carson was the host. I we sat and watched videos and I remember championing Ozzy Osbourne’s video for Back on Earth. I still love that song to this day. This would have been around ‘97, ‘98 and I would have been 22/23 at the time.

It seems like so many people feel like it’s an either/or choice rather than a both choice. Why not take the prescribed medical choice especially if your oncologist thinks you stand a good chance AND help it along by trying to think positive, eat better etc to help the treatment along.

That’d be too reasonable R80.

That’s what you should do, R80. It’s not that all of this holistic shit is hogwash. It’s just not enough when dealing with cancer. You have to cut that shit out and then get your body healthy.

Ananda Lewis died today of Stage 4 stupidity and stubbornness.

FIFY.

Unfortunately these deaths never convince these holistic mommy bloggers and essential oil weirdos.