“Baywatch” and “Charles in Charge” actress Nicole Eggert has been diagnosed with breast cancer.
The 51-year-old revealed that she was diagnosed in early December 2023 with stage 2 cribriform carcinoma breast cancer, exclusively to People.
After gaining 25 kilos in three months, feeling “terrible pain” in her left breast and a lump during a self-exam, she decided to make an appointment with her doctor.
“It really was throbbing and hurting,” she told People. “I immediately went to my general practitioner and he or she told me I had to right away go get it checked out. But the issue was I just couldn’t get an appointment. The whole lot was booked. So I had to attend until the top of November to get it done.”
The actress recalls gaining 25 lbs. in three months and having “terrible pain” in her left breast in October, although she assumed these were are all early signs of menopause.
After a mammogram and three biopsies, Eggert’s pathology reports tested positive for cancer.
“This journey’s been rough for me. This hasn’t been a breezy sale through life,” she admits, noting that she’s been attempting to stay positive. “I at all times read inspirational quotes and corny stuff, nevertheless it gets me through.”
Eggert, who appeared as a lifeguard for 2 seasons on the hit series, which also starred Pamela Anderson and David Hasselhoff, will undergo surgery to remove the cancer.
“I can definitely feel it,” she says of the lump in her breast. “It’s there. It must be taken out. So it’s only a matter of do I even have to do treatment before the surgery or can they perform the surgery after which I do the treatment after.”
The Post has reached out to reps for Eggert for comment.
“The Celebrity Fit Club” alum is unsure if the cancer has spread to other parts of her body and if her oncologist will prescribe chemotherapy and radiation before therapy.
“I even have panics where I’m like, just get this out of me,” she adds. “You sit there and it’s in you and also you’re like, every second that passes and it’s inside me. It’s growing, and also you’re identical to, you simply want it out.”
Each of Eggert’s parents battled cancer of their lifetimes — her father battled skin cancer, and her mother battled colon cancer — and he or she fears not being there for her children, daughters Keegan, 12, whose father has never been publicly revealed, and Dilyn, 25, whom she shares with ex-husband Justin Herwick.
“[Dilyn’s] an adult, but I even have a 12-year-old at home where I’m the one caregiver. I don’t have any family. I even have nothing,” she says. “It immediately made me realize, there’s just no succumbing to this. That is something I even have to get through. That is something that I even have to beat. She needs me greater than anything and anybody.”
“My fear is that my on a regular basis hustle, all the pieces that I do to maintain all the pieces going goes to come back to a screeching halt once I’m not feeling well or I’m sick or I’m within the hospital or whatever is occurring,” she added. “It’s just so overwhelming, and I’m just doing all the pieces I can’t to spiral. At night once I lay down, I panic because I’m like, well, who’s going to cover all of the bills? Who’s going to do all of this?”
Actress Mindy Molinary, who’s a detailed friend of Eggert’s, created a GoFundMe for the star to assist finance her recovery. The star filed for bankruptcy in 2014.
Eggert, who competed on the ABC’s 2013 aquatic reality competition “Splash,” hopes to start out a non-profit to assist others in her situation after she has recovered.
“I absolutely 100% want to start out a non-profit for other single parents akin to myself, who don’t have any family, don’t have anybody to show to,” she explained. “They tackle all this by themselves because they love their kids a lot, but when something happens to them, then what?”
“I’ve gotten such an outpouring of affection and it makes you’re feeling so good. It changes your whole day and other people just don’t have that,” Eggert continued. “So I actually need to work out a solution to give back to other parents which might be in my situation that aren’t as fortunate.”
Eggert isn’t the one 90s icon that has recently opened about her battle with breast cancer.
“Beverly Hills, 90210” alum Shannon Doherty, 52, is currently battling stage IV breast cancer. Doherty revealed on a recent episode of her “Let’s Be Clear” podcast that she’s hoping to “squeeze out one other three to 5 years.”