
(Photo: Rob Latour/Variety/REX/Shutterstock)
Maria Menounos built her career reporting updates on celebrities, but the E! News correspondent has recently become the subject of tragic headlines.
The 39-year-old entertainment personality revealed that she was diagnosed with a brain tumour and underwent a seven-hour surgery in early June to have it removed. According to E! News, the tumour was the size of a golf ball.
Menounos’s tumour, a meningioma, was benign and after the news of her health challenges became public, she posted to Instagram thanking fans for their support and reassuring everyone that she is on the mend.
“I want you all to know that I’m OK!,” she wrote. “Seriously I’m recovering well and should be as good as new very, very soon!”
The E! News anchor first noticed that something was off at work. She told People that her speech had started to slur and she found it tough to read the teleprompter. Those symptoms alone were enough for her to get an MRI—largely because of her family history.
Menounos’s mother, Litsa, was diagnosed with stage four brain cancer last September and is still undergoing treatment. In her cover story for People, Menounos said that she used her mother’s strength and positive outlook as an example.
Menounos underwent surgery on her 39th birthday. On Instagram, she gave a shout out to the staff at L.A.’s Cedars-Sinai Hospital thanking them for the best birthday gift she’s ever received: her health.
Though doctors say there is a chance her tumour could return, Menounos—who has appeared on a wide variety of film and television projects ranging from Fox and Friends to WWE and The Mindy Project—said that at present, she doesn’t need any further treatments.
With a new perspective on life, the celebrity correspondent left her job at E! News to take some time for herself, focus on her wellbeing and figure out her true purpose.
“I’ve never been more excited about life,” she said.
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