Maria Menounos Reveals Brain Tumor Battle
E! News host Maria Menounos is sharing details of a very serious health scare.
Menounos, 39, tells People magazine she underwent surgery to remove June 8 to remove a golf ball-sized brain tumor.
The one-time Dancing with the Stars contestant first noticed something was wrong back in February when she had headaches, slurred her speech and experienced trouble reading from a teleprompter.
Making the matter even more frightening is the fact that Menounos' mother is battling brain cancer, so when she learned about her condition, she only had one reaction. "I didn’t cry. I actually laughed. It’s so surreal and crazy and unbelievable that my mom has a brain tumor -- and now I have one too?"
Menounos, who got engaged to boyfriend of nearly two decades Keven Undergaro back in 2016, says her doctor removed 99.% of the tumor, adding, "He said there’s a six to seven percent chance that we’ll see it come back. But I’ll take those odds any day."
Menounos' road to recovery won't be simple. "My face is still numb," she says. "This is something that takes at least a month of healing, but I’m getting stronger and stronger every day and I’ll be back to normal very soon."
E! is also standing behind Menounos, who has left the network to focus on her health.
"Our thoughts and support go out to Maria and her family and we wish them all the best knowing that Maria will tackle this with the same fierce dedication she is known for," the network says. "We are grateful for Maria's many contributions to E! over the past three years."
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