‘I’ve Spent My Career Covering Genocides… But This Is Very Different:’ CNN Star Christiane Amanpour Shares New Details About Her Cancer Battle

She then went on to say that undergoing such an emotional journey required help. And her 22-year-old son Darius John (his father is her ex-husband, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Rubin) along with other loved ones and her medical experts have been there for her as she faced the “invisible killer” that is ovarian cancer.

“I let my friends and family take care of me,” she said. “That part was a pleasure and a privilege and something very different for me. I allowed myself to be vulnerable and feel those normal emotions.”

And now, just six months following her last chemotherapy treatment, Amanpour is back to doing what she does best: hard news reporting. In March, she spent two weeks in Ukraine covering the Russian invasion.

“I hadn’t faced shooting and shelling in a while,” she said. “That was incredibly important to be able to get back in the field.”

As she distances herself from the cancer battle and dives deeper into her work, she’s also turning her focus to how she wants to “live the rest of [her] really good years.” She even says romance is not out of the question.

“That’s one of the things my brush with mortality has made me want to pursue,” she said. “Two years of COVID, cancer and chemo have cramped my style in that department. But now I have a whole new lease on life; I’m looking forward again!”

Christiane Amanpour's Cancer Journey

Amanpour was diagnosed with stage 2 ovarian clear cell carcinoma on May 5, 2021. The diagnosis came after a visit to her doctor because she sensed something was off with her body. During a screening, doctors found a grapefruit-sized cyst on her right ovary.

"I would not be swayed when I felt a pain that was unusual, and I pursued it until the very end of getting my first ultrasound, which is the benchmark for then having a baseline to know whether you've caught it early in time and therefore 'cure' it, or not," she said in an interview with Good Morning America veteran and fellow cancer survivor Robin Roberts last fall.

Ten days after her diagnosis, Amanpour underwent a major surgery followed by 18 weeks of chemotherapy.

"It's now the end of my chemotherapy, tomorrow is my last session," she said on September 29, 2021, adding that treatments had been "fatiguing [and] tiring, and emotionally wearing."

Amanpour is now in remission, but the journey to get there has not been easy.

"I felt the humility of not being able to be in control, not feeling that I needed to be in control, but knowing that this is bigger than me, it's bigger than anyone who has these types of illnesses and to give myself over to the care of the experts and that's what I did," she said. "I think that was incredibly important for me to understand."

And in true journalistic fashion, she's sharing her story to educate other women about ovarian cancer and encourage them to advocate for themselves when it comes to their health.

"I want women to understand they must pay attention to their bodies," she told Roberts. "Whatever feels abnormal to them in terms of what they know to be their body's normal state, they need to pursue it.

"[Ovarian cancer] is very difficult to detect and that's what I want women to understand."

Understanding Ovarian Cancer

Ovarian cancer is when the ovaries which produce the sex hormone, estrogen, as well as eggs become cancerous. Women have two ovaries, one on either side of the uterus.

Understanding The Stages and Grades of Ovarian Cancer

The fallopian tube, which brings the egg from the ovary to the uterus for fertilization, is actually where many ovarian cancers begin. First, a few cancerous cells develop on the fallopian tubes, then these cells stick to the ovaries as the fallopian tubes brush over the ovary. From there, the cancerous cells grow to form a tumor.

Your risk for ovarian cancer may be increased if you have gone through menopause, have a gene mutation like BRCA1 or BRCA2, are obese or overweight, had your first pregnancy after age 35 or never carried a pregnancy to full-term, have a family history of cancer or used hormone replacement therapy. You should talk with your doctor about your potential risk for the disease.

Symptoms of Ovarian Cancer

Ovarian cancer is known as the cancer that whispers because symptoms are vague and sometimes similar to regular menstrual cycle fluctuations. Dr. Beth Karlan, a gynecologic oncologist with UCLA Health, says that ovarian cancer can be difficult to recognize with its subtle symptoms.

Ovarian Cancer: The Cancer that Whispers

"Ovarian cancer does not have any specific symptoms," Karlan said in an earlier interview with SurvivorNet. "It's often referred to as the cancer that whispers in that it has symptoms that are really very vague… and nothing that may bring your attention directly to the ovaries."

But Dr. Karlan still wants women to keep an eye out for a variety of possible symptoms.

"The symptoms include things like feeling full earlier than you usually would when your appetite is strong… Feeling bloated," she added. "Some changes in your bowel habits. Some pain in the pelvis. These are symptoms women may have every month. These are not very specific. But what we've found from multiple studies, it's this constellation of symptoms."

RELATED: Annual Ovarian Cancer Screenings Do Not Save Lives, Study Suggests; Women Should Listen for Signs of the 'Cancer that Whispers'

Dr. Stephanie Wethington, director of the gynecologic oncology survivorship program at Johns Hopkins Medicine, previously told SurvivorNet that prevention for ovarian cancer is an important area of focus.

"We must remember that prevention is key and advocate for all women to discuss their family history and individual risk factors with their doctors and ask whether there are risk-reducing options available to them," Dr. Wethington wrote.

Our advice to readers: See your doctor if you feel like something is off. Given that ovarian cancer can have no symptoms or a myriad of symptoms that you might easily brush off as nothing, it's important to always seek medical attention when your gut is telling you something might be wrong. That doesn't mean we should assume the worst every time we feel bloated or have a change in appetite, but it does mean that we should always try to listen to the signs our body is giving us.

Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.