A former MTV VJ has died after being diagnosed with breast cancer.
Ananda Lewis was 52 years old.
Her death was announced on Facebook by her sister Lakshmi Emory, who did not provide details on the post, but told TMZ that her sister died from stage IV breast cancer Wednesday morning at her home. She had been in hospice care.
She’s free, and in His heavenly arms. 💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔 Lord, rest her soul🙏🏽
Posted by LS Emory on Wednesday, June 11, 2025
Lewis said in 2020 that she had been diagnosed with stage III breast cancer after doing a self-exam, CNN reported.
She told her fans to be current with their mammograms, saying that she had delayed hers before her diagnosis.
“I need you to share this with the women in your life who may be as stubborn as I was about mammograms and I need you to tell them that they have to do it,” she said, according to CNN. “Early detection, especially for breast cancer, changes your outcome. It can save their life.”
Last October, she said the cancer had become stage IV.
Her doctors had recommended a double mastectomy, but she tried alternative medical care instead, The Washington Post reported.
“I decided to keep my tumor and try to work it out of my body a different way,” Lewis said, “Looking back on that, I go, ‘You know what, maybe I should have’” had the mastectomy.
She said that the surgery would have been “radical, harsh and life-altering,” the Post reported.
Lewis was born in Los Angeles in 1973, but moved to San Diego after her parents divorced, Variety reported.
She attended Washington, D.C.’s Howard University, working with the Youth Leadership and Development Institute as a trainer, working with teens in a “Youth at Risk” program. She graduated from the HBCU in 1995, Variety reported.
Lewis auditioned for BET’s “Teen Summit” series and became the host, focusing on social issues that affected young Black Americans.
One interview with the then-first lady, Hillary Clinton, earned an NAACP Award, The Washington Post reported.
After success on “Teen Summit,” she became a video jockey, or VJ, on MTV starting in 1997, eventually hosting “Total Request Live” and “Hot Zone.”
Lewis’ also hosted her self-titled syndicated program, “The Ananda Lewis Show,” from 2001 to 2002, broadcasting more than 250 episodes.
She also moderated forums on the music channel on topics such as school violence and hosted a special “True Life: I Am Driving While Black.”
Lewis also worked on CBS as a correspondent on “The Insider” and appeared on a few reality television shows, CNN reported.
After taking a break from the cameras, she returned to TLC’s “While You Were Out in 2019 as host, Variety reported.
Lewis leaves behind her son Langston, who, according to TMZ, graduated from middle school on Wednesday.
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