Julia Louis-Dreyfus has a good interview in Vanity Fair for their Emmys issue. I love the photo they used, it’s just stunning. All the photos are amazing, you can see them here. The interview talked Julia’s work ethic, the last season of VEEP and Julia’s acting chops, It also addressed her battle with cancer, including her decision to take it public. Julia and husband Brad Hall are mostly private about their personal life, but they aren’t completely closed off. We get small glimpses, but not much. So it was a little surprising that Julia went public with her cancer diagnosis when she did. She chose to go public because US healthcare was being dismantled and she realized she could use her situation to help support healthcare for everyone, while also bringing more awareness to cancer research. What she was not prepared for was the overwhelming response she got for doing so.
While Louis-Dreyfus was relieved that she could somewhat control the messaging and use her bully pulpit to talk about the inequities of our current health care system, she didn’t anticipate just how intense the reaction would be. The Northwestern basketball team dedicated a fund-raiser to her. Veep cast members posted Twitter videos on chemo days. Even Hillary Clinton, whom Louis-Dreyfus has never met, posted well wishes. In total, her message generated 23,000 comments, mostly from strangers.
“In many ways it was very nice to get the support from the outside world,” she says. “Having said that, I didn’t consider that it would’ve taken on a life of its own, which it did. It’s such a personal thing that I never would have put anything like that out there if I hadn’t had to.”
In her own home, she was a woman fighting a terrifying disease. But for the last 30 years, Louis-Dreyfus has been a weekly fixture in our homes via multiple, very watchable and rewatchable television series. She is as close to a constant in TV as there is. And so out in the world, she was being cast as some kind of modern-day folk hero, our stalwart entertainer fashioned into a cancer warrior. The New Yorker profiled her. Time magazine made her a cover story. She was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. “Even perfect people get cancer,” says Nicole Holofcener, the writer-director who directed Louis-Dreyfus in 2013’s Enough Said. “And then we realize they are not perfect, they are human beings. I think she did us all a favor with that.”
By way of example of how helpful Julia was for tweeting her diagnosis, the author of the article reveals that she, too, was diagnosed with cancer a few months after Julia and she tells Julia what it meant to her to have her tweets et al to read over while she was dealing with it. We often speak about how much it means to have celebrities bring up important subjects, but I think it’s easy to forget how hard it might be for them to do so. I also love Nicole Holofcener’s quote about Julia doing us a favor by telling us she’s not perfect. I hope hearing how many people she’s helped let Julia know she made the right decision.
The last part of the article discussed Julia’s future plans. She’ll appear in Downhill with fellow SNL alum Will Ferrell. I’d missed they were doing this, but I can’t wait to see them together. As I said, the last season of VEEP was discussed, I cannot emphasize enough how good I thought it was. And that’s not my sycophant nature speaking, it was really that amazing. The final episode was so good, I feel like I should speak about it in hushed tones. Fortunately, as stated in the article, Julia has no designs on retiring, but she is selective about her material. It just has to be *that* good. I can’t wait to see what she does next.
Photo credit: Jason Bell/Vanity Fair, Instagram and WENN Photos
I would have thought that was Anna Kendrick on the cover if you hadn’t ID’d it as Julia. It’s a lovely photo but I think they shopped it too much. She is a beautiful woman and the natural lines on her face don’t detract from that.
Agreed, she looks “waxy”? That’s the only way I can describe it. She’s such a beautiful woman, they didn’t need to do all of that.
“She is a beautiful woman and the natural lines on her face don’t detract from that.“
Wow. What a powerful statement…thank you for that!
I was gonna say the same thing. She’s a stunningly beautiful woman and she looks way overdone here, which is so unfortunate.
It’s a beautiful shot, but it just doesn’t look like her. It’s sort of interesting, in that the expression is so unlike how she usually looks in photos – there’s a vulnerability in her expression. But yeah, my first thought was, oh, that’s her? She’s gorgeous, no need to make her look like anyone but herself.
May she continue to be well.
From my own experience, when you first are diagnosed and you have to tell people, it is overwhelming. You have to prepare and steel yourself for the reactions of others. People want daily personal updates. In and of itself, it is exhausting. People do mean well but you do have to set boundaries so that you aren’t discussing your ailments over and over again every second of the day – that’s not living. And most people will respect those boundaries. I started taping cards people sent me to a door in my living room, it quickly spread to every door in the house and two full walls. I made a collage out of copies of the emails coworkers sent me. It truly was uplifting and helpful to know you are supported by love but you do have to control it. I can’t imagine what it must have been like on the scale of what Julia went through.
I went through breast cancer last year and I agree with you completely @lightpurple-about everything you said;overwhelming,exhausting,the need for boundaries. I hope you’re doing well and that health and wellbeing follow you 💐
Thank you, Spicecake, I’m doing fine, although I’ll always have pain, especially on rainy days like today. I hope you’re doing well too and continue to grow stronger. Every breath is a gift.
Thanks to everyone for all your good wishes!
Lots of good thoughts to both of you, Lightpurple and Spice cake, for health and happiness.
Thankyou,you’re very kind
Very interesting insights. I’m sorry you had to endure so much to gain them. Here’s to continued good health, women warriors Lightpurple and Spicecake38.
My sister and I have talked about how if either of us gets seriously ill we will need to keep it from our mom because her anxiety would only make the battle much harder. And my friend’s husband had prostate cancer and they kept it secret because they thought sharing the diagnosis would be too overwhelming. I ended up being overwhelmed by being the sole confidant, though, lol.
You and your sister have a good plan,Esmom.My grandmother insisted on spending the night with me at hospital on the night after my surgery,and I know she was so scared,but I ended up being there for her that night,and it was not fun. I felt more like her hostess than the patient 😄Plus (God love her) she snored so loudly I didn’t sleep much that night!
@Esmom, I found my own tumor and had it checked out at my primary care office before I told anyone what was going on. Her immediate advice while we were scheduling all the tests was that I should tell as many people I was comfortable with, especially women, what I was going through because I would be anxious until I had the results and the anxiety would show. Not for everyone but it turned out to be wonderful advice for me. I learned that about 75% of the women I knew, some as young as 19, had been through scares. My mother was the absolute worst though. She accused me of keeping secrets from her and started screaming at me. My normally silent Dad had to tell her to shush. She insisted on taking me to my first mammogram where we had a screaming fight in the parking lot about whose breast it was. When I had my first surgery, she had a fight with the surgical nurse about my pain meds – she didn’t want to drive to the 24 hour pharmacy. I made my primary care doctor give her the diagnosis. At that point, one of my sisters, two aunts, and a cousin stepped in. My aunt took me to all my other surgeries and all my chemo appointments. My sister handled all information going to my mother. The other aunt, a survivor, acted as a sounding board for both of us. My oncologist explained to me that mothers go through stages is. The first is “I have a child who has cancer!” The second is: “my child has cancer!” Many moms become stuck in the first and can’t make it to the second and that’s where mine was. It was a learning experience for her. When her sister developed melanoma, she was able to put aside her anxiety and do for her sister what she was too anxious to do for me and to realize that she had made things more difficult for me than they needed to be.
Best wishes to everyone!! I was diagnosed 5 years ago and am thankfully healthy. I had a bilateral mastectomy and it still infuriates me when the first thing people ask is “Did you get implants?” Some people have no boundaries whatsoever.
Same about the implants,wishing you the best of health!
I lost my mother to breast cancer. It’s such a personal journey. Everyone has the right to handle it however they like. My mother would give such an eyeroll whenever she got something with a pink ribbon on it. She never wanted to be defined but her illness. It was torture watching such a vibrant women be reduced to dust by this cruel disease. I have long came to the conclusion that anyone who is ill has the right to handle it however they like. It is nobody right to interfere or even have an option on how someone should act, treatment they choose or don’t choose. Until you are in their shoes you no longer have a voice in the matter, your job is to be supportive. This topic is so personal too me because cancer held my family hostage for 20 years. It robbed our family of time, which is something that is so valuable.
I’m sorry for your loss,your mom sounds like she would have been my kind of person-when you mention the eye roll 🙄 at the pink ribbon.Dont get me wrong if that’s what you like go for it,but the whole pink thing was not/is not my deal either.Something I’ve never told anyone,ever and I feel bad saying it here,but my sweet husband and daughter had a huge pink vase and huge pink flower arrangement waiting in my room and I had to act soooo happy,and I’ve saved the vase,because I believe what they did was meaningful to THEM,and well that’s okay too,but I cannot bring myself to use that vase – it reminds me of pain and drains coming out of my former breasts,what matters was and is their love and support.
I chuckle when I think back at the well intentioned people who gave my mother sympathy cards with the ribbon on it when mom was given her final diagnosis. At this point we were well educated in treatments and the road that we were on. It was a tidal wave of pink coming our way. She felt like it was almost condescending. I’ve learned that less is more. A simple” I’m sorry. I’m here for you.” And mean it, is everything.
Oh aims,you make too much sense!I hope you and your family can go forward and heal from what you all went through,you sound like a good person.
Thank you spice. We’re apart of this unfortunate sisterhood and kindness and goodwill go a long way. You are not defined by cancer, you write the rules for your life. You are so much more than your diagnosis. You are stronger than you know and you have the right to feel however you like. You are a warrior.
❤️
@Aims, sending you hugs
I keep commenting on this story-can’t help it😉I am grateful that Julia posted about her cancer,and I’m grateful to CB writers and commenters,because I found out I had breast cancer the same week that Julia posted about her last chemo treatment,and I posted here that I was anxiously awaiting biopsy results and so many of you were supportive of me and said such encouraging things.
I was and am lucky everything went well,but those first few days-awful trying to keep it together.I was just barely 42,and felt so much pressure to let people know how *okay* I was.
Sometimes the sick must be the strong,especially when you have a child.And I’m grateful that I was able to show my girl that I really was alright,to show her a strong mom in the hardest of times.
One thing I’ve endured too much of is the men in my life (friends,many who are doctors,not my husband though),but some men asking insensitive things like how big are you going to have your new ones 😫🙄🙄They were trying to be funny but…
And something I finally addressed with my husband was to tell him to STOP telling everyone about my cancer/surgery etc.I know he was trying to be open and helpful,but a couple months back we were at dinner and some former co worker of his came over to say hi- my husband proceeded to tell this practical stranger that I had breast cancer last year.I finally told him to SHUT UP,the story is mine to tell or not,and that the next time he says that I’m going look at said person and tell them that he (my husband)is impotent (he’s not,but I was trying to make a point )😏He’s told nobody since.
I agree that a cancer diagnosis is overwhelming. Some things should be kept private even for public figures, each human should be able to have time to emotionally come to terms with whatever they are going thru.
Love JLD work on Seinfeld and Veep.
It was very hard to tell my family/friends about my breast cancer diagnosis. First, you’re in total shock and have to come to terms with it on your own time, but then you don’t want to keep something that serious a secret from your loved ones. Second, you want to choose the right time and place to make the announcement. Because I live on the west coast of Canada and my family and friends are back in Toronto I had to do it via email. The perfect opportunity presented itself – Mr. Jaded told his daughter a few days before she and her husband and daughter were to walk in the CIBC Run for the Cure. She took a photo of her then 5 year old daughter who was doing the walk holding a piece of paper that just had my first name on it. I sent it around to everyone and simply added that I was sending a lovely photo of Mr. Jaded’s granddaughter doing the walk for the cure, and the reason she’s showing you my name is because I have been diagnosed with breast cancer.
This is why I love this website, all the lovely supportive commenters we have here.