Ananda Lewis has passed away at 52 years old.
Lewis’ death was confirmed by her sister, Lakshmi, via Facebook. “She’s free, and in His heavenly arms,” she wrote. “Lord, rest her soul.” Lewis was best known as one of MTV’s VJs and hosting shows such as Total Request Live and Hot Zone.
In 1999, she was named “the hip-hop generation’s reigning It Girl.” In 2001, she left MTV to host her own talk show, The Ananda Lewis Show. The former host revealed in 2020 that she was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer and said that she was not getting her mammograms regularly because of her fear of radiation.
In 2024, during a roundtable discussion with CNN’s Stephanie Elam, she revealed that after going against doctor’s orders her breast cancer progressed to stage 4 after deciding to keep the tumor.
“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 in a different way. . . . I wish I could go back. It’s important for me to admit where I went wrong with this.”
In an essay she published in Essence, she urged women to pay attention to their bodies and assured them that prevention is a real thing. “We’re not meant to stay here forever. We come to this life, have experiences — and then we go,” she wrote. “Being real about that with yourself changes how you choose to live. I don’t want to spend one more minute than I have to suffering unnecessarily. That, for me, is not the quality of life I’m interested in. When it’s time for me to go, I want to be able to look back on my life and say, ‘I did that exactly how I wanted to.’”
May Ananda Lewis rest in peace, and our thoughts and prayers are with her loved ones.