Photo: Keith Munyan
On Sept. 7,Kathy Bateswill join Reese Witherspoon, Matthew McConaughey andJennifer Garnerfor the biennial fundraising specialStand Up to Cancer. The event, which raises money for cancer research is a very personal one for the Oscar winner, 70, who has beat cancer twice.
“I didn’t tell anybody,” she tells PEOPLE. “I continued to work right after the operation, doingLittle Black Bookwith Brittany Murphy. My agent at the time was very old-school and didn’t want me to be the poster child for ovarian cancer. I didn’t want anyone to know, but it really took a lot out of me.”
Kevin Mazur/ABC
Then, in 2012 the Memphis native—who got her start in theater and went on to star in films such asMisery,Dolores Claiborne,Fried Green TomatoesandTitanic—was once again hit with extreme exhaustion and returned to her doctor for an MRI. She was diagnosed with breast cancer and decided to have a double mastectomy because of her family history with cancer.
“My aunt had died from it, my mother had it, my niece had it,” she says. She tested negative for the BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutation that increases a woman’s risk of breast and ovarian cancer. A negative BRCA result is “not a get out of jail free card,” she says.
For more on Bates, pick up this week’s issue of PEOPLE on newsstands now.
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Today her career is booming, including roles in the new season ofAmerican Horror Storyand the upcoming filmOn the Basis of Sex. “Acting is my life force,” she says, adding that she considered getting breast reconstruction but doesn’t want to take time out of her busy schedule for surgery because “I’m having too much fun.”
Her advice to women: Get regular checkups and stay healthy. “Quit taking the damn selfies and worrying about what you look like,” she says. “Instead, keep everything working and in good order.”
source: people.com
