What’s poppin’ kittens? I’m here to spill some hot yet heart-nerving tea you’ll wish you hadn’t sipped. Ananda Lewis, our radiant blast from the past, the versatile media maven who became MTV’s ‘it girl’, has transitioned to the spiritual side of life. At 52, she dances among the clouds in the heavenly embrace, as confirmed by her sis Lakshmi – yeah, our hearts are breaking in sync.
Sis stepped to TMZ too, dishing that Ananda made her departure at 11:35 a.m. on Wednesday, June 11, snuggled within the comforts of her LA home, her footprints washed away by the torrent of Stage 4 breast cancer.
Hold up! Let’s take a flavorful stroll down memory lane and remember this queen as she ought to be: a blazing beacon of Black brilliance! Miss Lewis, rolled in from the late 90s to the early 2000s, and became the voice our generation clung to, dousing our screens with intelligence and a charm so intoxicating it sparked dreams of endless possibilities.
She wasn’t just there to serve looks and good vibes, though. Ananda was ready to snatch our wigs to educate us on the dreaded ‘C’ word: Cancer. Her diagnosis, unveiled in an Instagram post in 2020, was a bold call to arms for women, especially Black women, to make mammograms a top priority. She candidly shared her past shade to mammograms, calling it a direct lesson on the mistakes of refusing early detection.
From eschewing mammograms to a painful admission of Stage 3 cancer and later Stage 4; from opting out of a double mastectomy due to COVID-19 disruptions to exploring treatments like cryoablation; Lewis’ journey was a vivid testament of resilience. The sistah bossed up and restructured her life, giving the boot to white flour, alcohol, and sugar whilst splurging approximately $200k on alternative treatments, which she credited as major game-changers.
But amidst the tumult, unraveled as 2023 hit the calendar, her cancer was becoming the uninvited guest we all dread. Despite its infiltration of her spine, liver, and hips, our lady love remained an ocean of defiant optimism and purpose-driven energy. Even as a single mama, her positive vibes echoed resoundingly, convinced she’d straddle this life for at least another 20 years.
Ananda now dances amongst the stars, leaving chest-bursting pride and her legacy alive in her 14-year-old boy. Hearts out to that young king on his middle school graduation.
To our Queen Ananda, your brilliance will forever be your legacy. RIP.
