Julia Louis-Dreyfus felt forced to reveal her breast cancer diagnosis because she knew she would need to explain the pause of her hit show, “Veep.”
During her Tuesday appearance on the “Good Hang” podcast, host Amy Poehler commended her for going public with her diagnosis, saying it was “very helpful for a lot of people” and wasn’t something she was obligated to share.
“Well, I was kind of backed into a corner on that one, because we had to shut our show down,” Louis-Dreyfus, 64, admitted. “It’s funny how that worked out, because normally I would not have done that. I’m very private.”
Once the actress realized that shooting would need to be put on pause so she could focus on her health, it also hit her that “250 people weren’t going to be working.”
“So I had to make a public thing about it,” Louis-Dreyfus explained.
Despite feeling forced to reveal her illness, she now looks back on the experience with positivity and is thankful she was able to touch other people going through a similar journey.
“The good thing about doing that was that I did have this incredible experience of people reaching out to me — asking me about my experience going through the breast cancer; for advice. And I was able to help.”
“There was something unbelievably comforting about being able to do that on the other side of this trauma,” she continued. “There is a lot to be said in self-soothing by soothing others. For real. I don’t mean to sound all Pollyannaish. I actually think it’s true.”
The “Seinfeld” star was diagnosed with breast cancer in September 2017. Her HBO sitcom ran for seven seasons, from 2012 to 2019.
One year after announcing her diagnosis, Louis-Dreyfus shared she was in remission after undergoing a double mastectomy and six rounds of chemotherapy.
In 2019, “Veep” creator, David Mandel, said her cancer ended up being “the best” thing for the show, as it gave them more time to reconvene and deliver a better version of the final season.
Louis-Dreyfus gave the cast and crew of the show a heartfelt thank you when they came back to shoot the final season once she was cancer-free.
“I really appreciate everyone coming back and working it out to come back,” the actress said in an Instagram video at the time. “I’m very grateful. Thank you very much. Love you guys Season seven!”
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