En route to a recent dermatologist appointment, Erin Andrews came this close to calling an audible.
“I was going to get the old full-body scan, make sure the moles are all good there,” the sportscaster explained in an exclusive interview with E! News, admitting she’d already put off the yearly obligation. “And I just got so nervous on my way to the checkup that I was like, ‘Traffic’s bad. Maybe I’ll just cancel this and go another time.'”
She kept driving down the proverbial field, she detailed, but not without a whole mess of nerves.
“That was my anxiety,” the 46-year-old admitted. “I just didn’t want to hear anything bad.”
Because the prominent Fox Sports sideline reporter has already caught her share of terrifying news.
Back in the fall of 2016, Andrews was simply focused on squeezing in her annual visit to the OB-GYN between taping her hosting gig on Dancing With the Stars and her weekend job on the gridiron.
“I wasn’t thinking about any bad news,” she acknowledged. “I was thinking, ‘Let’s get all my appointments done before football season.”
Then she got the call that changed everything.
“I had cancer,” she detailed, “cervical cancer.”
Her head fully in the game, “I was more worried about getting better for work, because that’s my happy place,” she recalled of prepping to go under the knife. “I felt like, ‘Okay, we’re going to do this surgery and we’re going to figure it out.”
After the initial procecure that October, “I found out my cancer went past the margins and I needed even more surgery,” she recounted. “So, yeah, it was a lot.”
But she huddled up with family and friends and was declared cancer-free in November.
“I remember the day after my second surgery, I was finding out the results on a Monday, and I was actually at Dancing with the Stars,” she recounted of getting the call from her surgeon while prepping for dress rehearsal with her stylist.
Taking the stage after, alongside cohost Tom Bergeron, “I said, ‘What are you doing tonight?'” Andrews detailed. “And he said, ‘Nothing. I’m just going home after the show.’ And I said, ‘No, you’re going to the bar with me after the show. I just found out I’m cancer free.'”
She wasn’t necessarily trying to dance around the news, she explained, it was just that she “wanted to get through it all and try to figure out what was going on before I shared with people.”
Her main takeaway, said Andrews—who detailed her diagnosis in a January 2017 Sports Illustrated piece—was that “it was a darn good thing that I went to go get checked, because it was treatable. We had caught it early enough.”
Which is why she was eager to team up with AstraZeneca and Hockey Fights Cancer for a national public health campaign that stresses the importance of getting body checked against cancer.
“Go to the doctor,” urged Andrews, who’s releasing a limited edition screen-themed t-shirt through her WEAR By Erin Andrews brand. “Just get it over with. I know it sucks, but think about the great fast food meal you’re going to have.”
Because that’s her big play following any appointment she’s been dreading.
“I go treat myself to a giant burger and fries,” shared Andrews, mom to 20-month-old son Mack with husband Jarret Stoll, “because I feel like I deserve it.”
And on the side, she enjoys a dollop of reassurance from her most dedicated teammate.
Stoll “wasn’t even my husband yet” when Andrews received her inital cancer diagnosis. And it came during what she called “a whopper of a month,” a weeks-long stretch that saw them coping with the death of the NHL centre’s nephew and the news that he’d been released from his try-out contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets after stints with the Edmonton Oilers, the Los Angeles Kings and the New York Rangers.
“But through it all,” Andrews reflected, “my husband was on it. I remember my parents saying, ‘I knew that he was the one for you because he really held the doctors responsible.'” As she remembers it, Stoll, now in player development for the Kings, “really went into athlete-coach mode and helped guide us through.”
Now she leans on her entire squad whenver she has to go in for follow-up appointments.
Nearly a decade after she first heard the word cancer, “Honestly, it affects me in the sense where I don’t go to appointments thinking it’s all going to be okay,” she said. “I prepare myself.”
At her once-every-six-months mammogram, for instance, “I do the ultrasound right there because I just want to know,” she shared. “And there have been times they’ve said to me, ‘You need to come back.’ And I’ve had an absolute panic attack in the waiting room, but that’s what happens. You take news and these appointments differently now that you have dealt with cancer before.”
The upside, though, is that “the wins feel a lot bigger.”
Like the post-game celebration she has each time she goes into the cancer center. “I am always on a text chain with my family,” she detailed. “We’re reciting National Lampoon’s Vacation lines, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off lines, Sex and the City lines to get me through it. And then afterwards, it’s a big, like, ‘Hey, everything’s good. We’re good here,’ and everybody’s so excited. So, yeah, you celebrate the wins a little bit more.”
Of course, she’s not the only star to have faced off with the disease and emerged victorious. See what other celebrities have said about their cancer battles.
Colin Egglesfield
The All My Children alum announced in January 2025 that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer, his third cancer diagnosis throughout his life.
Despite the devastating news, he announced (for the third time) in February 2025 he was cancer-free following successful surgery and treatments.
“Remember, you’re not defined by any of your challenges,” he wrote in his February 2025 Instagram update. “You’re grander than it all. I’m not my fear, my anxiousness or my scars but I embrace it all because the only way to transform it is to own it.”
Gerry Turner
The former Golden Bachelor star shared in Dec. 2024 that he had been diagnosed with Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia, a bone cancer.
“Unfortunately, there’s no cure for it,” Gerry noted to People at the time. “So that weighs heavily in every decision I make. It was like 10 tons of concrete were just dropped on me. And I was a bit in denial for a while, I didn’t want to admit to it.”
Jim Beaver
The actor, known for roles in The Boys and Supernatural, shared on Feb. 3, 2023, that he had battled prostate cancer for years and was cancer free.
Ariana Madix
“I had to have a lil bit o’cancer removed from my body and lymph nodes biopsied,” the Vanderpump Rules star revealed to fans at the close of 2018. “(In the clear now!)”
Marcia Cross
The Desperate Housewives star revealed to fans in September 2018 that she survived anal cancer. “After posting a picture of myself here and uttering the words #cancer and #hairloss, I feel liberated, deliriously free and completely me,” she shared on Instagram.
Dustin Hoffman
The two-time Oscar winner underwent successful treatment for cancer, and his rep confirmed to E! News that doctors deemed Hoffman “surgically cured.”
Hugh Jackman
The X-Men star was treated for his third basal cell carcinoma back in 2014, and after his third treatment, Jackman’s rep told E! News that he’s “all good” now.
In April 2023, Hugh had two biopsies for additional basal cell carcinoma. At the time, he told fans, “If I can just take this opportunity to remind you summer is coming for those of us in the northern hemisphere, please wear sunscreen.”
Camille Grammer
The former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star celebrated one year of being cancer-free in January. The mother of two was diagnosed with endometrial cancer back in 2013 and underwent a radical hysterectomy.
Then in 2017, Camille had surgery to remove Squamous Cell Carcinoma, a type of skin cancer.
Gordon Ramsay
Alongside a pair of photos that show a line of stitches running from the bottom of his ear to his jaw, which he later covered with a bandage, the British celebrity chef shared that he underwent a procedure to treat skin cancer.
“Grateful and so appreciative for the incredible team at The Skin Associates and their fast reactive work on removing this Basal Cell Carcinoma,” Gordon wrote on Instagram August 2025. “Please don’t forget your sunscreen this weekend.”
“I promise you it’s not a face lift,” he added. “I’d need a refund…”
Cobie Smulders
The Avengers: Age of Ultron actress battled ovarian cancer at the age of 25 and overcome odds when she welcomed two children with husband Taran Killam.
Dr. Drew Pinsky
TV host reveals he underwent surgery for prostate cancer in July 2013 and has since been given a clean bill of health.
Brooke Burke
The Dancing with the Stars cohost underwent successful surgery for thyroid cancer. The mother of four tweeted, “Thx for all the twitter love. I’m [home] recovering & resting.”
Angie Everhart
“MY DR CALLED ME ON A SAT. MORNING TO TELL ME I AM CANCER FREE!!!!! #wootothemotherf–kinhoo,” the actress tweeted after receiving the good news.
Christina Applegate
The Up All Night star was declared “100-percent clear” of breast cancer after treatment and a double mastectomy.
Michael C. Hall
The Dexter star used a hiatus from his hit series to slay Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Michelle Monaghan
The Australian actress revealed in October 2011 that she had a cancerous mole removed from her calf after her hubby encouraged her to get the suspicious-looking mark checked out.
Ewan McGregor
The Scot is trainspotting just fine these days after having a cancerous mole removed from beneath his right eye.
Sheryl Crow
The singer beat breast cancer in 2004 with a “minimally invasive” lumpectomy and radiation therapy.
Michael Douglas
The Oscar winner declared in early 2011 that his tumor was gone and he had throat cancer “beat.”
Edie Falco
The Emmy winner whacked breast cancer in 2004.
Anderson Cooper
Surely the CNN veteran wears his SPF when he’s braving the elements now after having a cancerous growth removed from under his left eye in 2008.
Kylie Minogue
The Australian pop star underwent successful surgery for breast cancer in 2005.
Barry Watson
The 7th Heaven star was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease when he was only 28. He’s 50 now and looking good!
Maura Tierney
The ER fave had to abandon her role in Parenthood to fight breast cancer in 2009—but her treatment was a success and she was back on the red carpet in no time.
Sharon Osbourne
The America’s Got Talent judge was diagnosed with colon cancer while shooting The Osbournes in 2002 and used the opportunity to stress the importance of regular screenings while attacking the #@%! with chemotherapy. She was declared cancer-free the following year.
Robert De Niro
The Oscar winner took prostate cancer down, down to Chinatown, in 2003, and has been in about 400 movies since then.
Robin Roberts
The Good Morning America cohost proudly flaunted her smooth scalp while undergoing chemotherapy to treat breast cancer in 2007.
Lance Armstrong
The champion cyclist battled back from stage-four testicular cancer before winning seven straight Tour de France titles.
Melissa Etheridge
The Grammy and Oscar winner became an inspiring activist after a lumpectomy and chemotherapy cleared her of breast cancer in 2005.
Julia Sweeney
The former Saturday Night Live standout mined her breast cancer battle for comedic material that turned into God Said Ha!, her successful one-woman show that eventually went to Broadway.
