Love Story’s Constance Zimmer is opening up about her private breast cancer battle.
“October is #breastcancerawarenessmonth and I never thought I’d be honoring it with my own story,” Zimmer, 55, wrote via Instagram on Sunday, October 4. “On March 13th when I was away from home — I heard these words from my doctor over zoom: ‘You have DCIS, also [referred] to as Stage 0 breast cancer.’ The silence was deafening.”
She continued, “Here I was surrounded by women sharing their secrets about their Midlife truths – and I was holding onto the biggest secret I’d ever held. First, I had to call my husband and get home to tell our daughter in person.” (Zimmer shares Colette with Russ Lamoureux.)
Zimmer reflected on the “mental toll that followed,” sharing it was “overwhelming on certain days” as she “began talking to many more doctors” than she would’ve preferred.
“Feeling like my options were limited and most suggested what was the quickest way to get this mass out ASAP, which was a mastectomy,” she wrote. “What if that’s not what I want? What if I want to save my boob instead? Thankfully, after talking with @drkristifunk, she said: ‘I think we can try a lumpectomy, I feel confident I can get it out.’ She was the first doctor to make me feel like what I wanted mattered and that made me weep with joy.”
She added, “It did take 3 surgeries – 3 weeks in a row, but she did it, she saved my breast and it looks good too!”
Amid the health battle, Zimmer shared that she was “on a very public press tour” for Love Story, while keeping her diagnosis and treatment private. (Zimmer portrayed Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy‘s mother, Ann Marie Messina, in FX’s series on John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy.)
“I then followed my surgeries with radiation, while celebrating my Emmy Nomination. So, me and @welcometoheidi decided to have my breast surgeon on our podcast @talkfiftytome because I know talking about it can remind women to please not wait until you have symptoms to get yourself checked in all ways possible. You can listen on 10/6 to the whole story,” she wrote.
She continued, “I’m grateful to be CANCER FREE and thankful to @cathrinewhite for capturing me for the first time since my diagnosis, celebrating what my body got me through over the last 7 months: pure shock and fear alongside pure joy and gratitude. From hospital gowns to Emmy glamour this was one hell of a ride.”
Zimmer also shared several photos of her inside a hospital and image of her glammed up, while also posting a clip where she commemorated finishing one week of radiation.
“Super surreal,” she said in the video, adding that she was “just breathing through it literally and figuratively.”
