Former MTV Personality Ananda Lewis Dies at 52 After Battling Breast Cancer

The television personality announced her diagnosis in October 2020.

Actress Ananda Lewis arrives to the 11th annual PRISM Awards at the Beverly Hills Hotel April 24, 2007 in Beverly Hills, California. Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images

Ananda Lewis, a former television personality who found fame in the late 1990s as a VJ on MTV, has died at the age of 52 after battling breast cancer for more than six years.

Lewis’s sister, Lakshmi Emory, announced the death in a Facebook post on June 11, writing: “She’s free, and in His heavenly arms. Lord, rest her soul.”

Lewis’s cousin, Felece Antoinette, also paid tribute online, describing the talk show host as “beautiful, gifted, multitalented, funny, intelligent, witty, and brave.”

“Ananda Lewis gained her wings today. No more pain,” Antoinette wrote on Wednesday. “RIH Bravebird, I’ll see you on the other side.”

Born on March 21, 1973, Lewis launched her broadcast career in 1993 as a host for BET’s youth talk show “Teen Summit.” The California native landed a position with MTV four years later, serving as a video jockey for several of the music cable channel’s programs, including “Total Request Live.”

Lewis went on to host her own talk show, “The Ananda Lewis Show,” in 2001, later working as a correspondent for CBS’s entertainment program “The Insider.” She also hosted the 2019 revival of TLC’s reality series “While You Were Out.”

Lewis announced her breast cancer diagnosis in an October 2020 Instagram video, sharing that she had been fighting the disease for almost two years.

“For a really long time, I have refused mammograms, and that was a mistake,” she said, citing her concerns about radiation exposure.

The American Cancer Society reports that women between the ages of 40 and 44 have the option to undergo mammograms—breast X-rays that help doctors detect breast cancer—once a year. The organization recommends that women aged 45 to 54 be screened annually, while those 55 or older have the option to switch to biannual screenings.

Lewis’s breast cancer was diagnosed at stage 3. However, she chose not to undergo a double mastectomy.

“I dove into the research and learned that environmental and lifestyle factors influence 90 percent of what causes cancer,” she shared in a January essay published in Essence.

“I stopped drinking alcohol. I stopped consuming sugar. I did a cleanse to get the buildup of toxins in my body out. I began to shift the way I manage stress. My goal was to do things that supported my body’s ability to continue to be whole enough to heal, instead of destroying it up front.”

In October 2023, Lewis learned that her cancer had progressed to stage 4, having spread to other parts of her body.

“Stage 4 doesn’t mean to me that all hope is lost and I’m going to die,” she told Essence.

“I don’t want the story to be that because I said no to the conventional path I was initially offered, that’s why I ended up at stage 4. That’s not true. Sometimes, people end up here whether they do conventional or not.”

Lewis is survived by her son, Langston, whom she welcomed in March 2011 with Harry Smith, the younger brother of actor Will Smith.