In 2012, Brooke Burke-Charvet posted a video on her blog announcing she had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Considering herself "the epitome of health and fitness," the former "Dancing with the Stars" co-host says she never expected a routine checkup would end in a cancer diagnosis.
Breaking the news was difficult, Brooke says. "I wanted to control the media and I didn't want to just end up in the tabloids and have the big 'Brooke Cancer' [headline]," she tells "Oprah: Where Are They Now?"
Even harder, she says, was telling her children. "My 13-year-old, I was able to sit down with her and explain exactly what mommy was going to go through. She cried a lot; she took it really hard because she also wanted reassurance that I was going to be OK. And as much as I wanted to make her that promise, I've always been really honest and factual with my children, I think that's the best bet."
Brooke went into surgery to have a thyroidectomy, and seven days later she was able to announce she was cancer-free. "Greatest lesson I learned from the whole cancer experience was that sometimes, something can come along more powerful than you are -- it's not about what happens to you, it's about how you deal with it," she says.
"Oprah: Where Are They Now?" airs on OWN.
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