Elle McPherson spoke about her battle with breast cancer in the Australian Women’s Weekly magazine, which came out on September 2. The 60-year-old former top model said she was diagnosed after she had a lumpectomy seven years ago.
She said she was advised to have a mastectomy, chemotherapy, hormone therapy and breast reconstruction surgery, but she decided against this.
She added that, after praying and meditating on a beach in Miami, she decided instead to follow what she describes as “an intuitive, heart-led, holistic approach”.
“It was a shock, it was unexpected, it was confusing, it was daunting in so many ways. And it really gave me an opportunity to dig deep in my inner sense to find a solution that worked for me… I realized I was going to need my own truth, my belief system to support me through it. And that’s what I did. So, it was a wonderful exercise in being true to myself, trusting myself and trusting the nature of my body and course of action that I had chosen.”
She admitted that saying no to medical solutions was one of the hardest things she had ever done.
In her recently released memoir titled Elle, McPherson explained more about her decision to treat the cancer in a holistic manner.
”Sometimes an authentic choice from the heart makes no sense to others… but it doesn’t have to. People thought I was crazy but I knew I had to make a choice that truly resonated with me. To me that meant addressing emotional as well as physical factors associated with breast cancer. It was time for deep, inner reflection. And that took courage.”
People around her were not happy about her choice, specifically her son, Flynn, 26. Her son, Cy, 21, was sceptical too, but he was also not comfortable with chemo.
“Cy simply thought that chemo kills you. And so he never wanted me to do it because he thought that was a kiss of death. Flynn, being more conventional, wasn’t comfortable with my choice at all.”
McPherson told Women’s Weekly that it has been seven years since her diagnosis and she has overcome cancer.
“In traditional terms, they’d say I’m in clinical remission, but I would say I’m in utter wellness. And I am,” she said.