Anastacia: I’m as fragile and as broken as anyone else
‘I’m not saying “mastectomies for everyone!”,’ says Anastacia Newkirk. The US singer decided to undergo a double mastectomy last year after being diagnosed with breast cancer for the second time. ‘It’s not an easy decision for any woman,’ she adds, ‘but for me it was an empowering one.’
Newkirk, 45, originally underwent treatment for breast cancer in 2003 when she had a lumpectomy followed by radiotherapy and chemotherapy. ‘The second time, I was told I had breast cancer and that it was in the other breast,’ she says. ‘I thought: “I’ve been down this road before and I know it could mean getting it a third time, I’m not really into that idea so what can I do?”’
She had investigated the possibility of a double mastectomy years earlier. ‘I thought because I’d had the idea in the back of my mind, it would be easier to have the operation but it wasn’t,’ she says. ‘It’s a serious life change – you’re removing part of your body. But I knew I could do it and not have radiation and wouldn’t have to go down that road again – and I’d come out of it breast cancer-free.
‘For me, there was no other choice. I don’t like to gamble. I don’t know if I’ll get another type of cancer, I’m not a crystal ball reader, but I do know now I won’t go through breast cancer again and there’s a sense of freedom I get from that.’