Tv persona and former MTV VJ Ananda Lewis has handed away on the age of 52 following a non-public and brave battle with breast most cancers. Recognized for her heat, mind, and trailblazing presence in media, Lewis died final week after residing with the illness since 2020.
Her shut pal, CNN correspondent Stephanie Elam, shared an emotional tribute throughout a CNN interview, revealing the ultimate textual content message Ananda despatched her earlier than her passing. Within the message, Lewis expressed acceptance, love, and deep religious peace as her situation started to worsen.
“That is a part of the textual content she despatched me,” Elam mentioned in the course of the tearful dialog. “‘You understand my emotions on this. All of us go. These our bodies are on mortgage and have to be returned. We are available in love and select to depart it with love as nicely.’”
Elam, visibly emotional, continued by studying the ultimate line from Ananda: “I like you my great lifelong bestie of besties.”
Ananda Lewis first rose to nationwide prominence within the late Nineteen Nineties as a bunch on MTV, the place she turned a defining voice of a technology—masking youth tradition, music, and social points with confidence and compassion. She later hosted The Ananda Lewis Present, labored as a correspondent for The Insider, and have become an outspoken advocate for well being and wellness, particularly in communities of colour.
In 2020, Lewis publicly revealed her breast most cancers analysis, explaining that she had delayed getting mammograms out of concern and distrust in medical procedures—one thing she later urged different ladies to not repeat.
Her passing marks the lack of a revered voice, a loyal pal, and a lady who impressed numerous viewers by merely being herself—unapologetic, genuine, and deeply human.
Ananda Lewis is remembered not just for her profession in entrance of the digicam, but in addition for the love and light-weight she shared behind the scenes—along with her household, associates, and people fortunate sufficient to know her.