In 2017, actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus had just been awarded an Emmy for her role in the HBO series "Veep" and was on a roll with her career when a breast cancer diagnosis shocked her.
Now, several years, six rounds of chemotherapy, and a final season of “Veep” later, Louis-Dreyfus' cancer is in remission, and the star has returned to work.
This week, Louis-Dreyfus spoke during an in-depth interview on the podcast, "Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard," during which she reflected on her cancer journey, from the initial diagnosis to the way her cancer shaped her perspectives.
The 58-year-old "Seinfeld" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm" star told Shepard that the timing of her breast cancer diagnosis was almost comedic; it came the morning directly after her Emmy award.
"I will admit to you I started howling laughing," Louis-Dreyfus said. "It's hilarious," she says. "You got a trophy in one hand and a cancer diagnosis [in the other]. It's incredible."
Louis-Dreyfus received her breast cancer diagnosis the morning after she won an Emmy for “Outstanding Lead Actress” in the HBO series, “Veep.”
As the actress made appearances at various parties leading Emmys, she told Shepard, she was "on autopilot." Her doctor had told her that she should prepare for bad news at the time of her biopsy on the Friday before the Emmys, and she struggled to focus on the Emmy awards as she awaited the results.
"I don't remember any of it," she said of the Emmys. "And then the next morning I got the call that it was, in fact, cancer."
Following her diagnosis, Louis-Dreyfus went public with the news, announcing on Twitter, "1 in 8 women get breast cancer. Today, I'm the one."
She expressed gratitude for her health insurance and supportive network of family and friends, but also acknowledged that not all people with breast cancer are as lucky as she was. "Let's all fight cancers and make universal healthcare a reality," she wrote.
Louis-Dreyfus also spoke with Shepard about the way cancer shaped her perspective. As she maintained her famous sarcastic sense of humor throughout her treatment (at one point she referred to her chemo infusion as an "awesome X-mas cocktail" in an Instagram post), the actress also said she cycled through "panic" and "true fear," to a valuable perspective shift.
Louis-Dreyfus said she began to feel tremendous gratitude for those she lovesincluding her supportive husband, comedian and director, Brad Hall, known for his former role on Saturday Night Live.
"Together we've been bound to one another and we just carry on," she said of Hall. "And he takes pride in my success. Without him in my life and my children, you can forget about it in terms of the trajectory of my life. Because this is all very important to memy career and being an actorbut it hasn't been the most important to me, and I think that's what has made it work. I had a really solid place to be without it."
Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Brad Hall have been married since 1987. (Portrait by Leslie Hassler.)
We've heard from many survivors who say their cancer diagnoses brought them clarityespecially in terms of their relationships, and realizing who matters most to them.
"Cancer is the great revealer, in a way, of peoples’ true character," breast cancer survivor Amy Grantham recently told SurvivorNet. "I very quickly learned who was really there in my life and who was just kind of on the outskirts of it when it was good for them or convenient for them. And it cut right through to the people that are most important in my life."
And when it comes to beating cancer, experts have told us that maintaining gratitude during cancer can make a big difference.
"They're grateful, not for cancer, but they’re grateful for an opportunity to know that life is finite [and] appreciate it for one of the first times ever because they know it may not be forever that they get to do this," Dr. Zuri Murrell, a colorectal surgeon at Cedars-Sinai medical center told SurvivorNet in a previous conversation about the importance of attitude during a cancer journey. "Those are the patients that tend to do well with processing and also living a long, long life despite a diagnosis."
Louis-Dreyfus and Hall have two sons, Henry and Charlie Hall.
Louis-Dreyfus, who told Shepard that her husband is "a really steadfast, strong, morally centered person," is one such example of the type of person Dr. Murrell described. While her proactive visit to the doctor led to an early detection, making her breast cancer easier to treat (Louis-Dreyfus shared that her breast cancer was not found during a routine mammogram, but rather, after she noticed a concerning "divot" in her breast), her attitude certainly played into her ability not only to survive her cancerbut also to continue really living in spite of it.
The final season of “Veep,” which was filmed after a short break that Louis-Dreyfus took for her chemotherapy, aired this past March, and the actress told Shepard that the show has been the career accomplishment she is "most proud of."
"Talk about a lens changer," Louis-Dreyfus said. "Everything [else] falls off. Everything. Everything that is precious becomes clear."
