Elle Macpherson is opening up about her secret battle with breast cancer.
The Australian supermodel, 60, revealed to Australia’s Women’s Weekly magazine in an interview published on Monday, September 2, that she was diagnosed with the disease after undergoing a lumpectomy seven years ago.
Macpherson said she was advised to undergo a mastectomy, chemotherapy, hormone therapy and breast reconstruction surgery, but she decided not to treat the cancer with traditional medicine.
Instead, the model and actress decided on “an intuitive, heart-led, holistic approach” after praying and meditating on a beach in Miami.
“It was a shock, it was unexpected, it was confusing, it was daunting in so many ways,” she said. “And it really gave me an opportunity to dig deep in my inner sense to find a solution that worked for me. … I realized I was going to need my own truth, my belief system to support me through it. And that’s what I did. So, it was a wonderful exercise in being true to myself, trusting myself and trusting the nature of my body and the course of action that I had chosen.”
In her new memoir, Elle, Macpherson wrote further about her decision to treat the cancer holistically.
Elle Macpherson Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty Images
“Saying no to standard medical solutions was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. But saying no to my own inner sense would have been even harder,” she wrote, per an excerpt published by Women’s Weekly.
“Sometimes an authentic choice from the heart makes no sense to others … but it doesn’t have to,” she added. “People thought I was crazy but I knew I had to make a choice that truly resonated with me. To me, that meant addressing emotional as well as physical factors associated with breast cancer. It was time for deep, inner reflection. And that took courage.”
Macpherson said that her sons, Flynn, 26, and Cy, 21, had mixed reactions to her choice of treatment. Their father, Macpherson’s ex-partner Arpad Busson, was also skeptical about her taking a holistic approach.
Breathe in, breath out, say om — get zen! Hollywood stars often lead the charge on wellness trends, and the practice of meditation is no different. Celebrities from Connie Britton to Megan Fox to Paul McCartney are known to stay centered by taking anywhere from three to 10 minutes or more a day to meditate. […]
“Cy simply thought that chemo kills you. And so he never wanted me to do it because he thought that was a kiss of death,” she wrote in the memoir, per Women’s Weekly. “Flynn, being more conventional, wasn’t comfortable with my choice at all.”
Macpherson said Busson “didn’t agree with what I was doing” but supported her regardless. “He wrote to me to tell me how proud he was of the courage I was showing,” she wrote.
Seven years on from her diagnosis, Macpherson told Women’s Weekly that she had overcome the cancer.
“In traditional terms, they’d say I’m in clinical remission, but I would say I’m in utter wellness. And I am,” she said.
Important note: “If you are thinking about using an alternative method instead of standard treatment, be sure to talk to your doctor first. It can be a challenge to find trustworthy information about the safety and effectiveness of alternative treatments. Also, some of these treatments can require a lot of time and money, and they may require travel away from your family and friends,” the American Cancer Society cautions on its website. “Choosing alternative treatment instead of mainstream cancer treatments might put you at serious risk. Delays or interruptions in standard treatment can give the cancer more time to grow. Even early stage cancers can become hard to treat successfully if proven treatment is delayed long enough.”
