When it comes to fighting illness, your friend group is critical. And for Clea Shearer, that crucial support during her breast cancer diagnosis in 2022 came from longtime pal Christina Applegate.
“Christina has been my friend for a very, very long time,” Shearer, cofounder of The Home Edit, tells Us Weekly. “I’ve known [her] forever, and she was my first phone call and the first person I thought of because she’s been a long breast cancer advocate and has been dealing with this in the public eye for a very long time. We were on the phone for about four hours that first time, and she cried with me. She made me laugh, she gave me advice.”
Shearer expands on the advice and tips she got from her circle in her new memoir, Cancer Is Complicated, out September 23. It’s the book she wishes she had when she received her diagnosis and details practical concerns from the day-to-day realities of chemo to how you can help a friend going through a cancer battle.
“Christina is one of the only people in my life who will tell me off immediately if I am like, wallowing, or if I say something too self-indulgent or too whatever,” Shearer continues about her pal. “[She’ll be like], ‘Nope, we’re not doing that today.’ Christina is a combination of every warm, fuzzy friendship hug, and also will tell you the God’s honest truth at all times.”
Olivia Munn, who has been candid about her own breast cancer battle, was another crucial support person for Shearer. “She was such a good friend to me through treatment, always checked in with me [and my husband], and then when she got diagnosed, I was one of her first phone calls,” Shearer explains.
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“It’s because we know the second you get diagnosed, you enter a club you never wanted to be a part of, but you have really, really good members, and everyone is so, so, so supportive,” she continues. “I have yet to meet a single cancer survivor, patient or otherwise, who would not drop anything to take a phone call to help someone else.”
Elsewhere in the book, Shearer shares tips for individuals if their friends are dealing with a cancer diagnosis.
“A lot of patients feel like they’re going to be a burden on their friends if they ask for something,” Shearer explains. “And I think it’s a really lovely thing to do if you want to be there for someone, start asking for small ways in which you can help, it [doesn’t have to be] offering to cook dinner: ‘Can I come sit with you, let’s watch a TV show.’ ‘Do you want to go on a walk to the corner? How about if I bring you over coffee?’ Just little things that really make someone’s day.”
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She continues, “I think the more friends and family show up in the smallest ways possible — write a little note, drop it in the mail, whatever it is — those really create really big, impactful moments. The more you can just try and show up, because it might be really hard for someone to ask for that help, and for some of us, like myself, I’m not used to asking for help. And it was so incredible, the amount of people who just showed up and didn’t wait for me to ask.”
