Ananda Lewis, the former television host and VJ died at 52

Ananda Lewis, former VJ MTV, a talk-show host, actress and mother, died at 52 after a long battle against breast cancer. His sister Lakshmi Emory confirmed her death with an article touching on the personal Facebook page of Emory.
“She is free and in her heavenly arms,” wrote Emory next to a series of emoji symbols of the broken heart. “Lord, rests his soul,” added Emory.
Remember Ananda’s precious voice
Lewis was one of the most important votes in the 90s and first aughts culture. She hosted The Ananda Lewis show and co-organized the popular video request series Live total request (TRL) On MTV. She also welcomed the emblematic series BET Adolescent summitWhere she addressed serious subjects relevant to adolescents with compassion. She brought fun and frothy energy to pop culture subjects. Lewis interviewed some of the best entertainment names, notably Brandy, Mary J. Blige and Destiny’s Child.
She respected her interview subjects and did her research. His work has helped to cement cultural touch stones like MTV spring holidays and the NAACP Image Awards.
Ananda breast cancer battle
Breast cancer is one of the main causes of death for black women in the United States.
“Black women have a higher impact on breast cancer before the age of 40, a more serious disease at all ages and a high mortality risk compared to white women,” according to a 2016 review published by the American Cancer Society. Black women have also received inconsistent screening recommendations. The Journal of the American Medical Association has strongly suggested that black women are starting to detect breast cancer eight years earlier than their counterparts.
Lewis revealed that she had received a diagnosis of breast cancer in an Instagram post in October 2020. She used her platform to raise awareness and encourage women to obtain regular mammographs during the month of awareness of breast cancer.
“It is difficult for me, but if only one woman decides to get her mammography after looking at this, what I go through will be worth it,” she wrote in the legend of a six-minute video where she traveled her disciples through her diagnostic and treatment trips.
Her diagnosis came after a self-examination that she made after choosing not to be tested regularly.
“If I had made the mammograms from the moment they were recommended when I was 40 years old, they would have caught the tumor in my breast for years before not doing it thanks to my own breast examination, self-examination and thermography,” she said in the video.
Other black celebrities, including Monyetta Shaw-Carter and Tina Knowles, have publicly shared their fights with breast cancer to raise awareness. Knowles revealed that his stadium cancer one could have been detected earlier if he had not chosen to jump mammograms.
Lewis commented on his battle against breast cancer during an interview for the January / February 2025 issue of the petrol magazine also. She explained that she had questioned the medical advice which was initially given to her after seeing what breast cancer treatments had done to other family members. She chose to seek treatment in an integrative establishment and to make extreme lifestyle changes, in particular by eliminating sugar from her diet and doing a cleaning.
“My goal was to do things that supported my body’s ability to continue to be whole enough to heal, instead of destroying it in advance,” Lewis told Victoria Uwumarogy. “Nor could I understand how to adapt to the double mastectomy, to all chemotherapy and, potentially, to the radiation they told me to have in my already outdated life. More importantly, these methods were going against what I thought was good for my body.
Revalle hypotheses on access to care
“Structural and personal factors continue to create obstacles to mammography in black women” and “the more advanced breast cancer stage in diagnosis in black women compared to the general population has been largely attributed to the inequalities in access to quality health care, including mammography of screening”, according to the Journal of Policy, Politics and Nursing Practice.
Some assume that each person they see on television have access to unlimited resources, but this is not always the case. Despite its fame and its impact, Lewis faced difficulty having access to the care she needed.
She described the financial barriers to which she was faced after her stay in the integrative installation during her maintenance with petrol.
“There are no residual checks. I am a single mother who works, and insurance does not cover most of these treatments. When I returned, I was given a set of instructions for things that I had to continue to do. But the money problem is a recurring problem. I had trouble paying for the current treatments that would have kept things in the bay, then I lost my insurance, “continued Lewis.
This has extended its way to receive appropriate care. Restrictions from the COVVI-19 pandemic also had an impact on its ability to receive appropriate treatment. When it was ready to do an operation, non -urgent surgeries were not programmed due to concerns about pandemic spread.
“It was two and a half years before I could really do more effective treatment,” she added.
Lewis continued to plead for others throughout his life, frequently disseminating the message that others should undergo screening.
Lewis is survived by Emory and his 14 -year -old son, Langston. Our sincere condolences and prayers are with the relatives of Lewis.
Resources
Johns Hopkins University Press / Journal of Healthcare for the Poor and Ungared
American Cancer Society: Understanding and attacking cancer in black women
The Journal of the Medical Association.
Journal of Policy and Nursing Practice