Elle Macpherson is doubling down on her decision to refuse chemotherapy during her breast cancer battle.
“Just to be clear, I sought a lot of medical advice,” Macpherson, 60, said during a Monday, September 9, appearance on the Australian Today show. “It was very interesting, because every doctor has a different opinion on how to treat my specific case of breast cancer.”
She continued: “There was no clear path and there [were] no guarantees either way. So, I just made a decision based on all the information that I gathered and what felt right for me.”
Macpherson revealed earlier this month that she was diagnosed with breast cancer seven years ago after receiving a lumpectomy. She was initially advised to undergo a mastectomy, chemotherapy, hormone therapy and breast reconstruction surgery — all treatments which she turned down in favor of “an intuitive, heart-led, holistic approach.”
Macpherson told Australia’s Women’s Weekly on September 2 that the diagnosis was “a shock” and “unexpected,” but she called it “an opportunity to dig deep” and find an alternate solution.
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“I realized I was going to need my own truth, my belief system to support me through it. And that’s what I did,” she continued. “So, it was a wonderful exercise in being true to myself, trusting myself and trusting the nature of my body and the course of action that I had chosen.”
The model is currently in remission.
Macpherson also wrote about her holistic approach to cancer treatment in her memoir, Elle: Life, Lessons, and Learning to Trust Yourself, which is set to be released in November.
“Saying no to standard medical solutions was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” she wrote in an excerpt published earlier this month. “But saying no to my own inner sense would have been even harder.”
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Even though people thought Macpherson was “crazy,” she had to make the best decision for herself.
“Sometimes an authentic choice from the heart makes no sense to others … but it doesn’t have to,” she wrote. “To me, that meant addressing emotional as well as physical factors associated with breast cancer. It was time for deep, inner reflection. And that took courage.”
Her family — including sons Flynn, 26, and Cy, 21 — were skeptical about the holistic treatment. Her ex-partner Arpad Busson “didn’t agree” with the choice either but shared a message of support with the model anyway.
During Monday’s interview on Today Australia, Macpherson made it clear that her forthcoming book “isn’t about cancer.” She added: “The focus on it is really distorted. It’s distorting the rest of the gems that are in the book.”
