Former MTV host Ananda Lewis has died at the age of 52 following a battle with breast cancer.
Lewis served as a host on BET’s Teen Summit and MTV’s Total Request Live and Hot Zone during the late 1990s. She later hosted her own syndicated talk show, The Ananda Lewis Show, and The Insider, a spin-off of Entertainment Tonight.
Lewis was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2018, after revealing that she had not been getting regular mammograms due to her fear of radiation. She also chose against undergoing a double mastectomy, telling CNN in a 2024 interview: “My plan at first was to get out excessive toxins in my body. I felt like my body is intelligent, I know that to be true. Our bodies are brilliantly made. I decided to keep my tumor and try to work it out of my body a different way.”