Ashley Park is a cancer survivor.
The “Emily in Paris” actress, 29, was diagnosed with leukemia at 15 but said she doesn’t like to talk about it because she doesn’t want it to define her life or career.
“Many times people bring up my cancer experience,” Park told Cosmopolitan. “I totally don’t mind talking about it. I think it’s very important to talk about, but I also appreciate when I’m not asked to talk about the experience, or about how it’s informed how I’ve lived my life.”
Park, who played Gretchen Weiners in the Broadway adaptation of “Mean Girls,” said she didn’t want to be defined by anything.
“I never wanted to be just the Asian girl, just the ‘whatever’ girl, and then I got to 16 and was the bald girl and the sick girl,” she said, later admitting that her cancer battle is what made her learn that she could get through anything.
In order to stay strong going through chemotherapy, Park tried to ignore the potential side-effects that could forever change her.
“I didn’t want to know that I might be infertile or that my heart might stop working or any of that stuff because once you say it, you’re thinking about it,” Park said.
“Even though my body beat the disease, if I let it change anything, it’s won.”
Two Tony nominations and a Grammy nomination later, it’s clear Park won.