Drew Barrymore is opening up about a recent breast cancer scare.
The talk show host and actress revealed the news on the Monday, November 3, episode of The Drew Barrymore Show during an emotional conversation with comedian Tig Notaro, who has previously battled breast cancer.
“This is the thing I’ve wanted to risk talking about on this show because I recently had a scare,” Barrymore, 50, told Notaro.
“I’m completely fine, but I did get a bad mammogram, and I got taken into that room, and then I had an emergency biopsy and I waited for those for five days,” she said of waiting for her test results.
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Barrymore then asked Notaro, 54, about her own experience with breast cancer after she was diagnosed in 2012 and underwent surgery for a double mastectomy.
“You had breast cancer, and you’ve spoken about it humorously, eloquently, fiercely and brilliantly yourself,” Barrymore said, before asking: “How did you calm yourself? How did you make peace with it?”
“It cracked me open, completely,” Notaro emotionally revealed. “I went from being somebody that held everything to myself … I was going to do it on my own and [said], ‘I’m OK.’”
“Even when I came back from surgery — I had a double mastectomy — and my closest friends were settling in to stay with me, and I was like, ‘Oh, I’m fine.’ I couldn’t even lift my arms,” the comedian continued. “They were like, ‘You’re all set, Tig?’ and I was like, ‘Yep, I’m all set. You guys can just head out now.’”
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Notaro encouraged people in a similar position to lean on their loved ones.
“What I can’t encourage people enough to do is get over any sort of feeling that you can’t ask for help, or to act like you don’t need anybody, like I was doing,” she said. “It was the greatest gift you can give yourself and the people that love you, because people want to help, people want to do good. It changed my life.”
Barrymore, meanwhile, has been open about her health in the past, including substance abuse issues as a teenager.
During an October episode of The Drew Barrymore Show, the Scream actress talked about going to rehab when she was 14.
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“I also was someone who got taken away and put in a place for two years,” Barrymore told guest Mae Martin, describing getting help as “the best thing that ever happened to me.”
Barrymore previously opened up to Us Weekly about her stint in rehab and how it informed her decision to talk about sensitive topics on her talk show.
“What the institution taught me was that if you sit around and discuss things and you don’t sweep ’em under the carpet, it will get better,” she told Us in a February cover story. “And that’s what the show is — based on that!”
Barrymore, who turned 50 in February, also opened up about overcoming her divorce from ex-husband Will Kopelman, with whom she shares daughters Olive, 13, and Frankie, 11, and finding herself again.
“Where I found myself was a place where I’ve never been so upset. I’ve never been that down on myself. And it was a real wake-up call that this is no way to live,” she explained. “Things happen. You can get through them. Please do not be so lost and mean to yourself that you don’t know your way up. The revelation in the early 40s was not about alcohol or divorce. It was like, it’s f***ing game time to get my s*** together and be the most solid person I can be.”
