Ananda Lewis, the former MTV video jockey and television personality, has died at the age of 52 following a prolonged battle with breast cancer. Her career spanned from hosting “Teen Summit” on BET to leading “The ananda Lewis Show,” before her diagnosis in 2019.

Lakshmi Emory, Lewis’s sister, shared the news of her passing in a Facebook post, stating, “[S]he’s free and in His heavenly arms. Lord rest her soul.” According to Emory’s statement to TMZ, Lewis succumbed to Stage 4 breast cancer on Wednesday morning while receiving hospice care at her home in Los Angeles.

Lewis, who spent her childhood in San Diego, graduated from Howard University in 1995. Her career in entertainment began with hosting “Teen Summit,” where she addressed issues relevant to teenagers and interviewed then-First Lady Hillary Clinton.

MTV recruited her as a VJ in 1997, where she quickly became a popular figure hosting shows like “Total Request Live” and “Hot Zone.” In 1999, the New York Times recognized her as “the hip-hop generation’s reigning It Girl.” She departed from the network in 2001 to host her own talk show and later served as a correspondent for “The Insider,” an entertainment news program.

Advocacy and Diagnosis

Lewis publicly disclosed her cancer diagnosis in a 2020 Instagram post. She revealed that she had not been consistent with mammograms due to concerns about radiation exposure. She urged her followers to prioritize regular breast exams.

“this is tough for me, but if just ONE woman decides to get her mammogram after watching this, what I’m going through will be worth it,” she said.

“Our inability to be cozy with doctors goes way back… We have a rightful distrust of the medical industry that we need to get over.”

In a 2024 roundtable discussion with CNN correspondents Stephanie Elam and Sara Sidner, a breast cancer survivor, Lewis spoke extensively about her experiences battling the disease.

Lewis recounted discovering a lump in her breast in 2019. Even though doctors initially recommended a double mastectomy, she chose to explore alternative therapies focused on detoxifying her body and addressing emotional stress.

Treatment and Progression

She later moved to Arizona, where she integrated holistic and conventional treatments, including insulin-potentiation chemotherapy. This approach involves lower chemotherapy doses based on the theory that insulin enhances drug entry into cells. She also spoke of financial challenges that made it challenging to maintain her holistic treatment regimen.

By October 2023, scans revealed that the cancer had spread to her spine, hips, and lymph nodes.

During the roundtable, Lewis emphasized the disproportionately high mortality rate from breast cancer among Black women, attributing it partly to a lack of trust in the medical system.

While breast cancer incidence rates are similar between Black and white women, Black women are approximately 40% more likely to die from the disease, according to data from the American Cancer Society.