Ananda Lewis Dies at 52: Remembering the Former MTV VJ and Daytime Talk Show Host

Ananda Lewis revealed in 2020 that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer.

The sister of the former MTV VJ, Lakshmi, posted on Wednesday, June 11, news of her death on Facebook.

Along with a black and white Lewis photo and a string of broken heart emojis, she penned, “She’s free, and in His heavenly arms.”

 “Lord, rest her soul,” says Ananda Lewis gained recognition in 1997 when she was hired to be one of MTV’s VJs, presenting programs including Hot Zone and Total Request Live. The New York Times labeled her “the hip-hop generation’s reigning It Girl in 1999.”

Leaving MTV in 2001, she had her chat program, The Ananda Lewis program. Lewis said in a 2020 Instagram post that she has stage III breast cancer. Her fear of radiation, she claimed, had been causing her to miss monthly mammograms.

Lewis participated in a roundtable conversation with CNN anchor Sara Sidner and friend from college, Stephanie Elam, in October 2024, in which she disclosed she defied medical advice and did not have a double mastectomy following diagnosis.

She told her the tumor had spread and her disease had advanced to stage IV.

 “Initially, my strategy was to eliminate too many pollutants from my body. I knew that to be accurate; my body is intelligent. Lewis stated, “Our bodies are wonderfully crafted.” I choose to try to get it out of my body a different way and preserve my tumor.

I wish I could travel backwards. I have to own where I went wrong with this.

Lewis underlined in an essay she wrote in Essence in January that “prevention is the real cure” for cancer and exhorted women to pay attention to their bodies. “We are not supposed to spend eternity here.

We come to this life, have experiences, and then we go.” She said.

 “Being truthful about that with yourself alters your choices of behavior.

I would rather not spend one more minute than I absolutely must suffering needlessly. For me, that is not the kind of quality of living I am drawn to.

When it comes time for me to leave, I want to be able to look back on my life and declare, “I did that exactly how I wanted to.” 1973 saw Lewis born in Los Angeles.

She and her sister Lakshmi relocated with her mother to live with their grandmother in San Diego after her parents split when she was two. Lewis revealed to Teen People in 1999 her challenging relationship with her mother both as a youngster and a teen.

From the start, Mom felt overwhelmed; the divorce had hurt her, and she was working hard to raise two children. Ananda Lewis, however, felt abandoned and developed strong bitterness toward her. She said, “By the time I was 10, I’d become a belligerent, rebellious kid, and my mother and I were fighting about everything.”

She volunteered and spent her time in school productions while attending an arts high school.

Following her 1995 graduation from Howard University, she found work hosting BET’s Teen Summit, which was taped in Washington, D.C. She questioned then-First Lady Hillary Clinton in one show.

She said to Teen “That experience got noticed at MTV, and in August of 1997, I moved to New York and started working there.” After a time of estrangement, she had reconciled with her mother months earlier in December 1996.

She said, “I decided to open a new chapter on love, forgiveness, and appreciation for her, then close the one on being nasty and resentful toward my mom.” Ananda Lewis became among the most well-liked hosts on MTV.

”In the past, our talent was sometimes simply beautiful people who could read cue cards,” Bob Kusbit, then MTV’s senior vice president for production, told The New York Times in 1999.

”But we decided we were going to do a lot more live TV when we got Ananda to MTV, and I was first and most interested in her ability to do live TV.”

Ananda Lewis questioned stars including Brandy, Destiny’s Child, NSYNC, Britney Spears, and many more. She also ended up covering more weighty subjects for the network, including the 2001 death of her close friend Aaliyah and school violence.