Martina Navratilova is celebrating the fact that she’s cancer-free!
via People:
The former global tennis champ, 66, broke the welcome announcement in an upcoming interview with Piers Morgan Uncensored on TalkTV, explaining that her doctors have pronounced her in the clear regarding the throat and breast cancer she was diagnosed with at the end of 2022.
“As far as they know, I’m cancer-free,” she told the host, per quotes obtained by The Sun.
She added that she will be undergoing some preventative radiation for two weeks on her breast, but following that, “I should be good to go.”
Of her original diagnosis, Navratilova admitted that although she’d been told her cancer was “very” treatable, “I was in a total panic for three days thinking I may not see next Christmas.”
“The bucket list came into my mind of all the things I wanted to do,” she added. “And this may sound really shallow, but I was like, okay, ‘Which kick-ass car do I really want to drive if I live like a year?'”
She also reflected on moments from her radiation sessions, including one emotional time she requested Elton John’s music be played during treatment.
“He starts singing ‘I’m Still Standing,’ which he dedicated to me at a concert in Paris during the French Open in the ’80s,” Navratilova recalled. “I’m in this mask not able to move, and that song came on and I’m like, ‘Oh great, so I can’t really cry because I can’t swallow.'”
Earlier this month, Navratilova’s wife, Real Housewives of Miami star Julia Lemigova, 50, opened up to PEOPLE about the nine-time Wimbledon champion’s cancer diagnoses, explaining, “After your wife is diagnosed with two cancers, it really changes your perspective. We all have to be strong for her. There is no time for sitting around and crying.”
Continuing, she said, “I’m a strong believer that when life hits you with a tragedy, no matter how big the tragedy is, you have basically two choices. You submit, or you push back and rebel. And all my life I was, I’m a rebel in a way, and I always push back.”
“So this is just one of those huge tragedies that hit our family. And there is no time or space to sit and cry because that will not help. That will only make things worse.”
Lemigova and Navratilova tied the knot in 2014. They’re the first same-sex couple ever to appear as full-time cast members on the Real Housewives franchise since it launched in 2006.
The tennis icon was first diagnosed with breast cancer 13 years ago — though she was declared cancer free in 2010. At the time of her initial diagnosis, Navratilova told PEOPLE: “It knocked me on my ass, really. I feel so in control of my life and my body, and then this comes, and it’s completely out of my hands.”
We’re thrilled for Martina, Julia, and their family.
