Ananda Lewis, a former MTV VJ, has died after a battle with stage 4 breast most cancers. She was 52.
Lewis’ sister, Lakshmi, shared the information of her demise on Fb, writing, “She’s free, and in His heavenly arms. Lord, relaxation her soul.” Lakshmi additionally instructed TMZ that Lewis died Wednesday morning at her residence in Los Angeles after battling most cancers for six years.
Born on March 21, 1973, in San Diego, Lewis later graduated from Howard College in 1995. She went on to pursue a profession in leisure, touchdown a job because the host of BET’s Teen Summit. She was later employed to be one among MTV’s VJs in 1997. She hosted reveals, together with Whole Request Reside and Sizzling Zone, earlier than leaving the community in 2001 to host her personal speak present, The Ananda Lewis Present.
In 1999, The New York Times referred to as her “hip-hop technology’s reigning It Lady, that means she isn’t just an MTV character however a girl whose appears to be like and angle have made her perpetually in demand at golf equipment and events.” Alongside her well-known pals, together with the late singer Aaliyah, Lewis was additionally a vogue trailblazer within the ’90s.
All through her profession, she additionally hosted a number of different reveals, similar to Surprising, Whereas You Have been Out, America’s Subsequent Producer and Excessive Faculty Reunion. Lewis additionally labored as a correspondent for The Insider from 2004 to 2005.
In 2020, she revealed in an Instagram video that she had been identified with stage 3 breast most cancers, noting on the time that she had not been getting mammograms finished repeatedly as a result of radiation fears. “That is robust for me, but when simply ONE girl decides to get her mammogram after watching this, what I’m going via might be value it,” she wrote within the caption. “PRACTICE EARLY DETECTION.”
A number of years later, she shared during a discussion with CNN’s Stephanie Elam and Sara Sidner in 2024 that she went towards medical recommendation and didn’t bear a double mastectomy following her breast most cancers prognosis. Her tumor then metastasized and her most cancers progressed to stage 4.
Along with her sister, Lewis is survived by her son.