Tough decision - Christina

2008-08-19 17:29

New York - Actress Christina Applegate is taking the long view of her battle with breast cancer - the really long view.

Speaking on ABC News' Good Morning America in her first interview since announcing her diagnosis earlier this month, the Samantha Who? star said she had a double mastectomy three weeks ago. She'll undergo reconstructive surgery over the next eight months.

"I'm going to have cute boobs 'til I'm 90, so there's that," she joked in the interview, which aired on Tuesday. "I'll have the best boobs in the nursing home. I'll be the envy of all the ladies around the bridge table."

The 36-year-old actress elected to remove both breasts even though the disease was contained in one breast. She said she is now cancer-free.

Applegate called the operation a logical decision. Her mother battled breast cancer, and she tested positive for the BRCA1 gene mutation linked to breast and ovarian cancer.

"I just wanted to kind of be rid of it," she said. "So this was the choice I made and it was a tough one."

The experience has been an emotional roller coaster, she said.

"Sometimes, you know, I cry and sometimes I scream and I get really angry and I get really like, you know, into wallowing in self-pity sometimes," she said.

"And I think that's - it's all part of healing, and anyone who's going through it out there, it's okay to cry. It's okay to fall on the ground and just scream if you want to."

The Emmy-nominated star has kept her sense of humour intact.

"I've laughed so much in the last three weeks," she said. "I love living, and I really love my life, and I knew that from this moment on it was only going to be good that was going to be coming.

"Yeah, I'll face challenges, but you can't get any darker than where I've been. So knowing that in my soul gave me the strength to just say, 'I have to get out there and make this a positive."'

Applegate's cancer was detected early through a doctor-ordered MRI. She said she's starting a programme to help women at high risk for breast cancer to meet the costs of an MRI, which is not always covered by insurance.

Applegate is scheduled to appear on a one-hour TV special, Stand Up to Cancer, to be aired on ABC, CBS and NBC on September 5 to raise funds for cancer research.

- AP