Famous Faces in the Fight against Breast Cancer

November 12, 2009 jemj431

Some of Hollywood’s highest-profile women are standing strong in the the face of breast cancer and sharing their stories with the world in hopes of finding a cure. 

Although only 36 years old, TV star and Broadway starlet Christina Applegate faced a major decision in 2008 when doctors found cancerous lumps in one of her breasts. She looked to her mother, a repeat breast cancer survivor, for the strength to make the right decision. She decided to go ahead with a double mastectomy and later underwent reconstructive surgery. She is now a very public advocate for the fight against breast cancer and she talked about her personal experience and her goals as a survivor in an interview with Good Morning America.

Following her breast cancer diagnosis in 2006, rocker Sheryl Crow had a new outlook on life and decided to adopt a child, her son Wyatt, in 2007. As she told Glamour magazine,  ”Having cancer made me say ‘OK, what is it I want from life?’ I thought, if I want to be a mom, there are kids out there that need moms. I think you choose your family. And I did.”

Melissa Etheridge took the stage at the 2005 Grammys in the middle of her battle with breast cancer, and she did it completely bald. “Maybe this’ll help somebody who’s sitting on chemo, laying in bed and going ‘God, I’m bald.” Isn’t this weird? Maybe it’ll help them feel a little better I didn’t know to what extent that would happen,” she told Dateline NBC. Little did she know the impact her perfomance would have. 

On her album Gaia, One Woman’s Journey, singer/actress Olivia Newton-John speaks out about her successful fight against breast cancer in 1992. She also established the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Center in Melbourne, Australia to increase public awareness of the disease. Her latest development is the Olivia Breast Self-Exam Kit, scheduled to go on sale in October at liv.com

When former Charlie’s Angels star Jaclyn Smith had a bout with breast cancer, she relied on the support of her closest friends, including one friend who had successfully fought breast cancer. Jaclyn is especially committed to helping other women the way her friends helped her. She toured the country with the educational program “Strength in Knowing: The Facts and Fiction of Breast Cancer Risk.” 

It may seem as though only women in the spotlight are taking a stand against breast cancer, but Stephen Baldwin proves that some Hollywood hunks are just as involved in the battle against the disease. After his mother Carol founded the Carol M. Baldwin Breast Cancer Research Fund during her fight with breast cancer, Stephen was inspired by the awareness she was generating on her own and decided to volunteer on behalf of the organization. Since then, all of the Baldwin brothers have been involved and the organization has raised nearly $3 million for research. 

Author: Jessica Ferreira

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