Sarah Ferguson Reveals Emotional Struggle Amid Cancer Diagnoses: ‘Like a Bomb Going Off in Your Life’

Sarah Ferguson shed new light on her internal struggle as she dealt with two cancer diagnoses in less than 12 months.

The Duchess of York said in a recent conversation with The Times that while she tends to be “generally a positive person,” the experience was a “hard” one to face. Cancer “is like a bomb going off in your life,” she said during the interview, which the British paper published on Friday, Jan. 17.

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“One diagnosis is enough to deal with, but I had two in the space of a year,” the 65-year-old fondly known among fans of the royal family as “Fergie” said. “I don’t mind admitting that my mind went to some dark places, reflecting on my own mortality.”

The ex-wife of Prince Andrew credited her family as being a source of “immense support” amid her breast cancer and skin cancer diagnoses and added that she relied on “meditation and mindfulness to help stay positive and balanced.”

Less than two years ago, the duchess announced that she was diagnosed with breast cancer following a routine mammogram. She underwent surgery in the summer of 2023 and emphasized the importance of early detection as she urged others to undergo “regular screening.”

On the last day of 2023, Ferguson announced in a triumphant post on Instagram that she “beat breast cancer.” But a few weeks later, she revealed a new cancer diagnosis when she announced that she was battling malignant melanoma, an aggressive type of skin cancer.

As the one-year anniversary of her first cancer diagnosis announcement approached, the Duchess of York said during a May 2024 interview with People that she had “put cancer in the corner.”

“I think that we’ve managed to get cancer in the right place rather than cancer ruling me,” she told the magazine.

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