Five years after her final breast cancer treatment, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, 62, reflected on the moment for WSJ. Magazine’s November Innovators Issue. The Seinfeld alum revealed that she used to “feel immortal,” but is now focused on making her remaining years count. “I find myself living more mindfully,” Julia shared. “It’s not like it’s yakking at me all the time, but there’s more laser focus.”
The Veep actress revealed that she initially responded with laughter when she was diagnosed with breast cancer on September 18, 2017. Julia had won two Emmy awards the evening prior to receiving the life-altering news. “I mean, it felt like it was written. It felt like it was a horrible black comedy,” the 62-year-old said. “And then it sort of morphed into crying hysterically.”
Additionally, Julia noted that there is an “arrogance” that most people have when it comes to cancer. “You just simply don’t consider it for yourself, you know, that’s sort of the arrogance of human beings,” she continued. “But of course, at some point, we’re all going to bite it.” Further in the interview, the Wiser Than Me podcast host revealed that she has a “list” of “inappropriate” comments people made to her during her chemotherapy treatments.
“I liked to put things on that list that I wasn’t supposed to say out loud,” she said. “A complaint list, you know, the specifics about things that were happening to my body that I wanted to write down, things that were happening, you know, when I was in chemo and what was happening to my body as a result of that. It’s just, like, horrible. It’s medieval. And then people do say it comes from a positive place, but sometimes people say incredibly remarkable things that are inappropriate.”
These days, Julia is focused on her podcast, which features episodes with Hollywood legends including Jane Fonda, Carol Burnett, and more. “I think that’s her phase right now,” her husband, Brad Hall, said of her current career path. “She’s done an awful lot of funny TV, and other things are interesting her right now.”
He went on to explain that her fans are getting content they didn’t expect. “There’s an expectation going into anything that she does that hilarity will ensue,” he went on, before adding that, “it doesn’t have to be funny with Julia.”