Supermodel Elle Macpherson discussed breast cancer diagnosis during a sit down interview with Tracy Grimshaw. Photo / 60 Minutes Australia
Supermodel Elle Macpherson discussed breast cancer diagnosis during a sit down interview with Tracy Grimshaw. Photo / 60 Minutes Australia
Last week Elle Macpherson disclosed that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer: ductal carcinoma in situ, also known as DCIS. Her cancer was non-invasive. Chemotherapy is not often offered for those.
Following public outrage about her revelation, Macpherson appeared on Australian TV show 60 Minutes and admitted to receiving two lumpectomies, a surgery that removes cancer from breast tissue.
Aussie supermodel Elle Macpherson says she “healed through” her breast cancer in a bombshell interview with 60 Minutes, after sparking outrage over revelations she rejected modern treatments in favour of a “holistic” approach.
Macpherson, 60, sat down with Tracy Grimshaw on the programme in a tell-all about the diagnosis, revealed in her new memoir.
She controversially claimed she had “healed through breast cancer” with the use of holistic treatments, despite admitting she had received two lumpectomy surgeries.
Asked if she believed she had “cured” her cancer, Macpherson responded: “The word cure is a very interesting word.”
The revelation prompted more outrage than sympathy after she also revealed she had opted not to follow conventional treatments to treat the cancer after undergoing lumpectomy surgeries on the advice of doctors.
The programme did not address the backlash to her initial revelation.
Macpherson’s doctors had also advised her to follow up with surgery to remove her breast, along with radiation, chemotherapy and hormone therapy treatments.
Macpherson said she rejected these conventional treatments – and went against the advice of 32 other doctors.
Instead, she decided on a “holistic” approach under the guidance of two doctors based in Phoenix, Arizona.
Her treatments included natural medications through “intravenous drips, dentistry, osteopaths, chiropractors and a lot of spiritual work”.
“I think if I have a choice of losing my life or losing my breasts, I think I would choose to lose the breasts,” Macpherson told the programme.
“That was the alternative that I was given.”
Macpherson claims she is now in remission and said her decision was based on what had resonated with her for the past 20 years, denying it was a “vanity” choice.
“I had been really looking at the body in a holistic way, so looking at emotional, mental, spiritual and physical wellbeing,” she explained.
The specific type of cancer Macpherson was diagnosed with is called HER2-positive oestrogen-receptive intraductal carcinoma.
Between 15-20 per cent of all breast cancers are considered HER2 positive, according to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.
During her second lumpectomy treatment, Macpherson was told she had “no clear margins” – meaning there was a risk she may still have cancer cells.
She rejected options to have surgery to remove her breast.
Macpherson’s revelations were met with criticism from fellow cancer survivors including Kellie Hush, the former editor-in-chief of Harper’s BAZAAR Australia.
Dr Karl Kruszelnicki on Thursday compared Macpherson’s treatment to a “lottery”.
