Maria Menounos Jokes About Her Laugh After Brain Tumor & Mom's Cancer Battle
- From losing her mom to brain cancer to battling a non-cancerous brain tumor herself, and dealing with fertility struggles, TV host Maria Menounos, 45, has certainly experienced a lot … but she’s not letting it affect her attitude. We’re happy to see Menounos making light of her unique laugh, as positivity is also helpful amid adversity.
- Menounos had a baby girl via surrogate last year after nearly 10 years on a fertility journey.
- Her mother, Litsa Menounos, was diagnosed with a glioblastoma, one of the most common and most aggressive brain tumors, back in 2016 when she was 61 years old. She later passed away from brain cancer in May 2021.
- While Menounos was caring for her mother, she started having strange symptoms and was later diagnosed with a golf ball-sized benign (non-cancerous) tumor. Menounos underwent 7-hour brain surgery on her 39th birthday in June 2017.
- Dr. Dana Chase, a Gynecologic Oncologist at UCLA Health, reminds us it’s important to try to focus on the good, stay positive, and do things that bring you joy [like making fun of your laugh] to the degree you’re able to do so.
- “We know, actually from good studies, that emotional health, quality of life is associated with survival, meaning better quality of life is associated with better survival, better outcomes,” Dr. Chase tells SurvivorNet.
The former “E” host, who battled pancreatic cancer, had a brain tumor removed, a 10-year fertility journey, and lost her mom to cancer, never lost her positive spirit and took to social media this week to reveal she’s as confident and lively as ever.
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She continued, “I remember on Ridiculousness I told the story about how I think I learned it from the goats in Greece and it stuck with me ever since.
“Did I fool anyone?”
In the video, Menounos explains how she needs to address “something really, really important” … whether her laugh is real or not. The footage then proceeds to show several clips of her comical chuckle, to which even Justin Bieber wants commented on, to which Menounos jokingly replied, “That’s my evil laugh.”
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Menounos’ ability to make light of the sound of laugh was prompted by praised from fans, with one commenting, “That laugh Is contagious!! Never stop laughing!! You are an amazing girl!!”
A friend even commented, writing, “I remember the first time I heard that laugh in college and thought, wait, what?? I died laughing. You were amazing then as you are now! Xoxo.”
Meanwhile, another fan wrote, “Always loved your laugh and everything about you that makes you Maria!”
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Laughter Through Cancer
- You Can Go Through This Ultimate Challenge With Humor, Dignity, and Love: Stan Adler’s Cancer Story
- Taking on Cancer With Grace and Humor — Siblings Reflect on Their Mom’s Strength as She Faced Breast Cancer
- ‘You Can’t Cancer and Chill’: Comedian and Cancer Survivor Quincy Jones Uses Humor to Point Out Absurdities in Healthcare System
- “Laughter’s Always Been The Best Medicine” — After Cancer Treatment, Shannen Doherty Laughs Her Way Through Recovery
- SurvivorNetTV Presents – The Frenchy: A Glorious Film About The Power Of Laughter
Maria Menounos’ Health Challenges
Last year was the first time Maria Menounos went public about her battle with stage two pancreatic cancer, following her 2017 brain tumor scare, her mom’s passing from brain cancer, and her fertility struggles.
Leading up to her pancreatic cancer diagnosis, Menounos, who has hosted “Extra” and “E! News,” began suffering from major leg cramps in June 2022, a symptom which resulted in her going to the hospital, where she learned she had type 1 diabetes (something both her dad and younger brother also have).
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Her diabetes diagnosis then led her to be prescribed insulin and change her diet, which left her feeling better by October.
However, in November 2022, she ended up back in the hospital with “excruciating abdominal pain” and “diarrhea.” Despite what she was experiencing, doctors told her everything was “fine” with her body, but weeks later, she began feeling as if “someone was tearing my insides out.”
A whole-body MRI and a biopsy revealed she had a stage 2 pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor, a type of cancer that forms in the pancreas, according to the National Cancer Institute.
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Thankfully, due to Menounos’ cancer being discovered somewhat early, she was able to get the tumor, her spleen, part of her pancreas, 17 lymph nodes, and a large fibroid removed via surgery on Feb. 16 of last year.
Additionally, her doctor and surgeon said she will not need to undergo chemotherapy or other forms of treatment.
Menounos, who must continue getting yearly scans for the next five years, said on social media that there were some “tough days,” but she was “grateful” for the good ones and being able to overcome cancer.
“God granted me a miracle. I’m going to appreciate having her in my life so much more than I would have before this journey,” she said.
Meanwhile, Menounos’ mom, Litsa Menounos, was diagnosed with glioblastoma, one of the most common and most aggressive brain cancers, back in 2016 when she was 61 years old.
While Menounos was caring for her mother, she began noticing strange symptoms like ear pain, dizziness, and blurred vision. She told her mother’s doctor, thinking she was crazy that she was having similar issues.
But following an MRI, they discovered a golf ball-sized benign (non-cancerous) tumor in Maria’s brain.
Menounos ultimately underwent a 7-hour brain surgery on her 39th birthday in June 2017. And in May 2021, her mom passed from brain cancer.
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Maria Menounos’ Fertility Struggles & Surrogacy
Meanwhile, the Greek-American journalist and Medford, Massachusetts, native had been struggling with starting a family before announcing she was expecting a daughter with her husband last year.
Back in 2021, in an interview with TODAY, the TV host said, “I lost my mom, we lost our dog and then losing the surrogate was a loss. Trying to have kids in the midst of that would have been a lot. And so we believe that it’s God protecting us. And it’s going to happen at that right time.”
Menounos had been on the hunt for a surrogate and at one point had found one she liked, but things didn’t work out.
“We had an amazing surrogate and we loved her,” she explained. “But our fertility doctor told us that it was never going to work. We tried and tried and tried and tried.”
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In a previous interview with SurvivorNet, Menounos explained that she and her husband, Kevin Undergaro, were trying to remain hopeful despite the long process of finding the right surrogate.
“I’m going to have to continue to go with the flow and trust that God has a plan for me. I just got to surrender to it. I’ve gotten pretty good at it,” she said. “That was a big thing I’ve learned along the way. If you believe there’s a plan for you whether it’s the universe or god, you have to go through the motions; you have to do things that make sense: you got to go work, you got to do all these things. It’s like no matter what we do, sometimes the things that we want is just not the right time. Everything has its season and its moments.”
However, Menounos remained positive, kept her faith, and didn’t give up, leading her to where she is today, expecting her daughter via a surrogate.
In an interview earlier with PEOPLE last year, Menounos said, “We are so grateful to the beautiful family helping us conceive our baby. Keven, my dad, and I are all beyond excited for this soul to come into our lives. What a blessing.”
Menounos, who received help from Family Match Consulting and started IVF treatments back in 2012, told People in 2022, “I definitely didn’t think it was going to take this long. It’s been years. We’ve used different services, different people. It’s just been a very frustrating process.”
IVF stands for in vitro fertilization, a process in which a woman’s eggs are retrieved from her body and fertilized with sperm in a lab. The embryo can then be implanted into the mother or a surrogate.
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The Importance of Laughter & Positivity
It’s wonderful to see Maria Menounos turning to laughter and positivity, and remaining true to herself amid adversity.
It’s also interesting to note, that according to the National Library of Medicine, research has shown that the amount of pain medication needed for patients is reduced after they watch funny movies.
And perhaps laughter could also help when someone is dealing with the pain that comes amid a health challenge, whether it’s any sort of health battle, like a fertility struggle, or cancer.
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The importance of positivity amid tough times has been seen through stand-up comedian Jesus Trejo in Long Beach, California.
Trejo became a caregiver for both of his parents after his mother was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor and his father was later faced with colon cancer. But instead of panicking and focusing on the devastating nature of the situation, the only child stepped up to care for his parents with love and laughter.
In a previous interview with SurvivorNet, Trejo opened up about how he put his career aside to care for his parents in their time of need while making time to smile along the way.
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“The only advice I have for anyone watching this is laugh, and laugh often, laugh at yourself. Don’t take yourself seriously. Things are already bad. Because once you do that, it’s a game-changer,”Trejo told SurvivorNet.
He also says the laughter itself might be brief, but “the effects of it just reverberate through your body, and can change an already bad situation into a better one.”
Focusing on hope, and maintaining a positive attitude amid a health battle can always be helpful.
Anecdotal evidence from SurvivorNet experts points to how a positive mindset can impact a cancer prognosis.
Dr. Zuri Murrell, of Cedars-Sinai told SurvivorNet in an earlier interview, “My patients who thrive, even with stage 4 cancer, from the time that they, about a month after they’re diagnosed, I kind of am pretty good at seeing who is going to be OK. Now doesn’t that mean I’m good at saying that the cancer won’t grow.”
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“But I’m pretty good at telling what kind of patient are going to still have this attitude and probably going to live the longest, even with bad, bad disease. And those are patients who have gratitude in life.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Dana Chase, a Gynecologic Oncologist at UCLA Health, also says it’s important to try to focus on the good, stay positive, and do things that bring you joy to the degree you’re able to do so amid battling a disease like cancer.
“We know, actually from good studies, that emotional health, quality of life is associated with survival, meaning better quality of life is associated with better survival, better outcomes,” Dr. Chase said in an earlier interview.
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Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff
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