Ananda Lewis, the beloved former MTV VJ, talk show host, and tireless advocate, has passed away. She was 52.
The news was confirmed by her sister Lakshmi Lewis, who shared a heartfelt Facebook post announcing her passing.
“She’s free, and in his heavenly arms,” she wrote with broken heart emojis. “Lord, rest her soul.”
Source: Paul Archuleta / Getty
Lewis was a defining voice of a generation during her time at MTV in the late ‘90s and early 2000s, where she worked as a correspondent on Total Request Live and MTV News and lit up TV screens with her smarts and signature charm.
In 2001, she launched The Ananda Lewis Show, an empowering syndicated daytime talk show, and in recent years, she was a passionate advocate for breast cancer awareness, particularly in the Black community, encouraging women to prioritize early detection.
She shared her breast cancer diagnosis in a 2020 Instagram post, where she explained her decision to avoid mammograms for years due to concerns about radiation exposure.
“For a really long time, I have refused mammograms, and that was a mistake,” said Lewis at the time. “I watched my mom get mammograms for almost 30 years, and at the end of that, she had breast cancer, and I said, ‘Huh? Radiation exposure for years equals breast cancer. Yeah, I’m going to pass. Thanks anyway.’”
“If I had done the mammograms from the time they were recommended when I turned 40, they would’ve caught the tumor in my breast years before I caught it through my own self exam and thermography,” she continued. “And they would have caught it at a place where it was more manageable. Where the treatment of it would have been a little easier. It’s never easy, but I use that word in comparison to what I’m going through now. Instead, what I’m dealing with is stage 3 breast cancer that is in my lymphs. I need you to get your mammograms.”
As previously reported, she later revealed that her breast cancer had progressed to stage IV after initially choosing not to undergo traditional treatments.
Diagnosed in 2019 with stage 3, Lewis opted out of a double mastectomy at the time, citing both personal choice and limited access during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
“The circumstances were not conducive to surgery because my tumor wasn’t aggressively growing at the time, and then COVID hit,” she toldThe Epoch Times in October. Instead, she pursued cryoablation treatment in Arizona, which helped shrink her tumor.
Lewis told the publication that she adopted a strict lifestyle, cutting out alcohol, white flour, and sugar, and spent nearly $200,000 on various treatments, including insulin potentiation therapy (IPT), which she credited as highly effective. “If I knew what I know now, I would’ve started with the IPT chemo immediately,” she said before noting that she had a network of “angels” who ensured she could continue receiving care.
In 2023, her cancer progressed to stage 4, spreading to her spine, hips, and liver. Still, Lewis remained defiantly optimistic and deeply grounded in purpose, especially as a single mother to her son.
“I may have felt like I was dying in February, but I’m not dying, and I’m definitely doing better than I was last October,” she said in one of her final interviews. “I think I’ll do better than five years. I’m not dying anytime soon. I plan to get a good 20 more years out of this body.”
