Actress Mindy Cohn is revealing her secret five-year battle with breast cancer.
Actress Mindy Cohn is revealing her secret five-year battle with breast cancer.
The 51-year-old The Facts of Life star shares that she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012, in a new interview with People. Prior to the diagnosis, the actress -- best known for playing Natalie Green on the beloved '80s show -- recalls that she had to call her good friend, actress Helen Hunt, because she suddenly felt extremely tired.
“I just couldn’t go anymore," Cohn explains. "This was before Uber was really a thing, so I texted my friend Helen Hunt and said, ‘Something’s wrong with me. I need help.’”
Cohn called the diagnosis devastating, and shared that the cancer would spread and continue to come back over the course of five years.
"I’ve always been an optimist,” she says. “But the cancer metastasized. It kept spreading and coming back. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, and then it would. And then I’d wait for another shoe to drop, and it would. I was frustrated and enraged. I couldn’t control any of this. I couldn’t fix it.”
Cohn's treatment plan included undergoing a double mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiation. She is now cancer-free.
“I’m feeling great,” she says of her health these days. “And I’m so ready to get back to working. I think I’m a good actress, and I have a lot to offer. I’m excited to see what I get to do next!”
In April, Cohn's Facts of Life co-star, Charlotte Rae, also revealed she'd been diagnosed with bone cancer, seven years after battling pancreatic cancer.
ET spoke to Rae in October 2015, when she candidly talked about her ex-husband, John Strauss', bisexuality and the body shaming she claims occurred on set of The Facts of Life.
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