Linda Perry reveals secret breast cancer battle and ‘no-brainer’ double mastectomy
Linda Perry secretly underwent a double mastectomy in 2021 after being diagnosed with breast cancer.
“I feel so lucky because there’s so many women that don’t get that opportunity,” the former 4 Non Blondes frontwoman, 59, told People in an interview published Wednesday.
Perry revealed in her new documentary, “Linda Perry: Let It Die Here,” which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival earlier this month, that doctors found the cancer while she was getting an elective breast reduction surgery.
Upon doing a routine pathology evaluation, triple-negative cancer, which spreads faster and has fewer treatment options than other forms of the disease, was discovered in her breast tissue.
Were it not for the cosmetic procedure, the “What’s Up?” singer is sure she would not have been diagnosed with cancer until it was too late because she was so stressed caring for her ill mother at the time.
“My doctor basically said the cancer that I had was the kind that she finds in people where they have six months to maybe two years to live,” she said.
“And I would’ve never found it, and I would’ve never done anything about it when I started feeling off, because I would’ve thought it was because of my mom and the stressful situation I was under.”
Perry was told that she had two options for treatment: radiation therapy or a double mastectomy. She thought having both her breasts removed was a “no-brainer.”
The Grammy-nominated artist also reflected on her personal life journey, telling the magazine she is “finally enjoying this person [she’s] becoming.”
“I’ve always had this thing where I just want to be the best. So much f—ing pressure to be the best. But now I’m like, I just want to be the best at who I am,” she shared. “And that takes a lot of pressure off. I don’t want to be f—ing Superman. I don’t want to save the world.”
She added, “I just want to save the people I can, and I want to be the best person that I am.”
Perry is a mother to 9-year-old child Rhodes, whom she shares with her ex-wife, “Roseanne” alum Sara Gilbert.
The former couple separated in 2019 after five years of marriage and finalized their divorce in 2021.
With everything going on, the songwriter was not sure she should continue filming her documentary until she talked it through with the director, Don Hardy.
“The hammer was on me, and this happened in real time,” she said. “I remember calling Don and going, ‘You’re not going to believe this. And he’s like, ‘Well, do you want to talk about it?’ And I’m like, ‘Well, we’re in it. Let’s just do it.’”
