Julie Louis-Dreyfus, Sheryl Crow & More Brave Celebrity Women Who Have Had Breast Cancer

Hollywood is filled with brave women who’ve battled breast cancer and used their health experiences to educate others; with the most recent being, Julia-Louis Dreyfus. See more stars who’ve done the same!

Each year, it is estimated that over 252,710 women in the United States alone will be diagnosed with breast cancer and more than 40,500 will die, according to the National Breast Cancer Foundation. To give you a better outlook, on average, every 2 minutes a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer and 1 woman will die of breast cancer every 13 minutes. However, over 3.3. million breast cancer survivors are alive in the U.S. today; and, thousands upon thousands of those survival stories are due to the fact that someone, somewhere educated a friend, loved one, or stranger about breast cancer, the signs, or to get tested regularly. And, some of those educators have very familiar faces. [See Christina Applegate and more stars who’ve battled breast cancer in our attached gallery.]

With the platform that celebrities have, especially in today’s day and age with social media, stars like Giuliana Rancic, Rita Wilson, Cynthia Nixon and many more continue to share their breast cancer experiences. And, they continue to donate and educate individuals all around the world about breast cancer. More stars who do the same, and are included in our above gallery include: Olivia Newton-John, Samantha Harris, Shannon Doherty, Sheryl Crow, Kylie Minogue, Suzanne Somers, Hoda Kotb, Robin Roberts, and Kathy Bates. Below, we are highlighting some of Hollywood’s female stars’ battles.

American Horror Story actress, Kathy Bates has actually beaten cancer twice. She overcame ovarian cancer in 2003 before she admitted that she had beaten breast cancer in 2012. Bates said that she successfully underwent a double mastectomy. And, speaking of the operation, Angelina Jolie underwent a preventative double mastectomy [in May 2013] after tests revealed that she had a high risk of developing breast cancer. Angie’s surgery confession sparked major conversation about women getting tested and taking preventative measures.

In an open article with the New York Times [in May 2013], Angie sent an emotional message to women. “I wanted to write this to tell other women that the decision to have a mastectomy was not easy. But it is one I am very happy that I made,” the mother of six wrote. “I can tell my children that they don’t need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer.” Then, in 2015, Angie had her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed to prevent a potential cancer scare.

HollywoodLifers, check out more stars who battled breast cancer in our above gallery.