“Baywatch” and “Charles in Charge” actress Nicole Eggert has been diagnosed with breast cancer.
The 51-year-old revealed that she was diagnosed in early December 2023 with stage 2 cribriform carcinoma breast cancer, exclusively to People.
After gaining 25 pounds in three months, feeling “terrible pain” in her left breast and a lump during a self-exam, she decided to make an appointment with her doctor.
“It really was throbbing and hurting,” she told People. “I immediately went to my general practitioner and she told me I had to immediately go get it looked at. But the problem was I just couldn’t get an appointment. Everything was booked. So I had to wait until the end of November to get it done.”
The actress recalls gaining 25 lbs. in three months and having “terrible pain” in her left breast in October, although she assumed these were are all early signs of menopause.
After a mammogram and three biopsies, Eggert’s pathology reports tested positive for cancer.
“This journey’s been rough for me. This hasn’t been a breezy sale through life,” she admits, noting that she’s been trying to stay positive. “I always read inspirational quotes and corny stuff, but it gets me through.”
Eggert, who appeared as a lifeguard for two seasons on the hit series, which also starred Pamela Anderson and David Hasselhoff, will undergo surgery to remove the cancer.
“I can definitely feel it,” she says of the lump in her breast. “It’s there. It needs to be taken out. So it’s just a matter of do I have to do treatment before the surgery or can they perform the surgery and then I do the treatment after.”
The Post has reached out to reps for Eggert for comment.
“The Celebrity Fit Club” alum is unsure if the cancer has spread to other parts of her body and if her oncologist will prescribe chemotherapy and radiation before therapy.
“I have panics where I’m like, just get this out of me,” she adds. “You sit there and it’s in you and you’re like, every second that passes and it’s inside of me. It’s growing, and you’re just like, you just want it out.”
Both of Eggert’s parents battled cancer in their lifetimes — her father battled skin cancer, and her mother battled colon cancer — and she fears not being there for her children, daughters Keegan, 12, whose father has never been publicly revealed, and Dilyn, 25, whom she shares with ex-husband Justin Herwick.
“[Dilyn’s] an adult, but I have a 12-year-old at home where I’m the only caregiver. I have no family. I have nothing,” she says. “It immediately made me realize, there’s just no succumbing to this. This is something I have to get through. This is something that I have to beat. She needs me more than anything and anybody.”
“My fear is that my everyday hustle, everything that I do to keep everything going is going to come to a screeching halt when I’m not feeling well or I’m sick or I’m in the hospital or whatever is going on,” she added. “It’s just so overwhelming, and I’m just doing everything I can not to spiral. At night when I lay down, I panic because I’m like, well, who’s going to cover all the bills? Who’s going to do all of this?”
Actress Mindy Molinary, who is a close friend of Eggert’s, created a GoFundMe for the star to help finance her recovery. The star filed for bankruptcy in 2014.
Eggert, who competed on the ABC’s 2013 aquatic reality competition “Splash,” hopes to start a non-profit to help others in her situation after she has recovered.
“I absolutely 100% want to start a non-profit for other single parents such as myself, who don’t have any family, don’t have anybody to turn to,” she explained. “They take on all this by themselves because they love their kids so much, but when something happens to them, then what?”
“I’ve gotten such an outpouring of love and it makes you feel so good. It changes your whole day and other people just don’t have that,” Eggert continued. “So I really want to figure out a way to give back to other parents that are in my situation that aren’t as fortunate.”
Eggert isn’t the only 90s icon that has recently opened about her battle with breast cancer.
“Beverly Hills, 90210” alum Shannon Doherty, 52, is currently battling stage IV breast cancer. Doherty revealed on a new episode of her “Let’s Be Clear” podcast that she’s hoping to “squeeze out another three to five years.”
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