Kelly's Quiet Strength Through Cancer
- Actress Kelly Preston’s final film, Off the Rails, is out in theaters now and the director recalls how Preston was a total pro on set, despite the fact that she was privately battling breast cancer.
- Preston passed away from breast cancer in July 2020; not many details are publically known about her treatment path.
- Breast cancer is screened for by mammograms, which look for signs of cancer in the breast tissue. Women ages 45 to 54 with an average risk of breast cancer should get mammograms annually.
Williamson helmed British comedy Off the Rails, which stars Preston, Judi Dench, and Bridget Joneses’ Sally Phillips, and reflects in a new interview with Yahoo! Entertainment about her time with Preston during Preston’s last chapter of her life.
Read More“Honestly, in a million years I would never have known there was anything wrong with her,” Williamson says. “And she was so beautiful! The rest of us would be thinking about how tired and knackered we all looked, and then we’d gaze adoringly at Kelly, shrug our shoulders and say, ‘Well, she’s just beautiful, isn’t she?'”
Husband John Travolta has spoken about how proud his late wife Kelly was of her last film. And Williamson also recalls how thrilled Preston was to meet Dame Judi Dench, calling their meeting a “dream come true.”
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The director said that Preston regularly spoke about her children and husband Travolta, although they were unable to visit her in Europe for the shoot. “She talked about them a lot, and obviously missed them,” Williamson tells Yahoo! Entertainment.
Preston’s Breast Cancer Battle
Preston fought her breast cancer privately for two years before passing from the disease in July 2020 at the too-young age of 57. While we don't know the specifics of Preston's treatment, we do know that breast cancer is typically treated with chemotherapy, radiation, or surgery.
After she passed, Travolta thanked doctors at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. "My family and I will forever be grateful to her doctors and nurses at MD Anderson Cancer Center, all the medical centers that have helped, as well as her many friends and loved ones who have been by her side," he wrote on social media.
Related: When You're Getting a Mammogram, Ask About Dense Breasts
The current guidelines from the American Cancer Society (ACS) say that women ages 40 to 44 should have the choice to start annual breast cancer screening with mammograms if they wish to do so and that women ages 45 to 54 should get mammograms every year. Women 55 and older should switch to mammograms every 2 years, or can continue yearly screening, says the ACS.
When Should I Get a Mammogram?
Keeping a Cancer Battle Private
Preston largely chose to keep her cancer diagnosis and health battle a private affair. Health is a deeply personal matter, and it's up to you and you alone to determine who has the right and privilege to know about your diagnoses.
It’s important to do what feels right to you after your diagnosis, and not cave into any pressure to share your diagnosis with others before you’re ready, or to share it more widely than you’d like. You have autonomy over your health and the sharing of any news related to it.
Dr. Marianna Strongin, a licensed clinical psychologist and founder of Strong In Therapy Psychology, tells SurvivorNet that whether someone shares this heavy news is their personal preference.
"I recommend sharing, I'm a therapist," Strongin says with a laugh, "but to whom and how many people is up to the person (with cancer)."
There are plenty of people who have chosen not to share their cancer battle publicly. While Strongin says that she encourages sharing, she also recognizes there's also a personality factor at play when it comes to whether a person shares this deeply personal news; some people are more willing to share, and some are just more private, Strongin adds. The difference, she says, is what's the process in sharing versus not sharing.
Iconic actor Stanley Tucci, 60, shared for the very first time this year that he battled cancer three years ago when a tumor was found on his tongue. Then there's actress Helen McCroy, wife to actor Damien Lewis, who died in April at age 52 after a private battle with cancer, and Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman died at 43 after a private, four-year battle with colon cancer.
Strongin mentions one of her patients who has explored the reasons why she didn't tell people about her cancer diagnosis. For the patient, Strongin says, "it was coming to terms with the identity of being sick."
"Being sick is something she never wanted something she never wanted to acknowledge to herself," Strongin adds. "It was safer to temporarily do that (identify as sick) for herself," but the long-term impacts of telling others the same thing were unknown, which can be a scary thought.
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