Deborah Norville, 60, shocked fans after opening up in a video she shared about undergoing a surgery tomorrow on Apr. 2 to remove a cancerous growth in her neck. Here’s what we know about the Inside Edition anchor and her procedure.
1. It was a viewer who originally caught the lump that eventually turned out to be cancerous. “We live in a world of see something, say something, and I’m really glad we do,” Norville revealed in a video announcement. “When you work on television, viewers comment on everything. Your hair, your makeup, the dress you’re wearing. And a long time ago an Inside Edition viewer reached out to say she’d seen something on my neck. It was a lump. Well, I’d never noticed the thing, but I did have it checked out and the doctor said it was nothing, a thyroid nodule.”
2. While the lump was benign for a while, it eventually turned out to be cancerous. “For years, it was nothing,” she added. “Until recently, it was something. The doctor says it’s a very localized form of cancer, which tomorrow, I’ll have surgery to have remove. There will be no chemo. I’m told no radiation, but I will have surgery, and I’ll be away for a bit, so Diane will be holding down the fort.”
3. Deborah was born in Dalton, Georgia on August 8, 1958. In 1976, she represented all of Georgia in America’s Junior Miss pageant. She’d later go on to host America’s Junior Miss contest.
4. She graduated with a BA in journalism from the University of Georgia in just three years. She also had a perfect 4.0 GPA, and graduated summa cum laude.
5. She started working at NBC as an anchor of NBC News at Sunrise in 1987. Deborah would late become a co-host of the Today show in 1990, and win an Emmy. She later joined Inside Edition in 1995.