Baywatch star Nicole Eggert still struggling with grueling effects of double mastectomy surgery in breast cancer battle

The star gave up her time in between recovery to feed the homeless
ACTRESS Nicole Eggert says she’s still struggling with the grueling effects of surgery amid her cancer battle – but feels lucky to be here for Christmas with her family.

The former Baywatch star recently had a second mastectomy and reconstruction and says she is recovering well. 

Nicole, who played Summer Quinn in the iconic 90s series, was first diagnosed with Stage 2 cribriform carcinoma breast cancer nearly two years ago. 

She went public with her health issues in January 2024 and has inspired many by chronicling her journey on social media. 

During Thanksgiving, the 53-year-old actress spent time volunteering with the charity, Los Angeles Mission, handing out meals to the homeless in the city’s Skid Row area. 

In an exclusive interview with The U.S. Sun, she said staying busy has helped her, and she’s doing everything in her power to stay fit and healthy.  

She said, “I try to stay active. I don’t have full range of motion in my left arm. And of course there’s numbness, but whatever. 

“I just really enjoy life in a different way now. We all have our struggles, right? So you can really relate to everybody.

“And that’s just so important. It’s important for me to be around other people with a story.

“I just want to be busy all the time now and do things and have opportunities. 

I feel very lucky to have the holidays and to be here.u0022Nicole Eggert

“I had my second surgery like two months ago maybe and there’s more surgeries ahead, but that’s all good stuff. I’m not afraid of that. That’s stuff that just needs to happen. 

“I feel good. My body’s healing. Getting back to normal.”

Nicole will need to go through either a hysterectomy or begin hormone therapy, and is already on oral medications she will need to take for years.

Despite having more surgeries ahead, she is determined to make the most of the festive season and going into 2026. 

“I feel very lucky to have the holidays and to be here,” she said. 

“Christmas, my oldest daughter will come into town, and so we will all be together, which is everything to me, so that’ll be really special. 

“And New Year’s, I don’t know, we’ll probably go to a party. If I can stay awake till midnight!

“I do feel good. Sometimes I’m running low on the energy, but I go to bed early and wake up early. I’m not one hundred percent, but I’m good.”

Nicole admitted she has found she can cope with a lot more than she thought and is trying to remain positive for herself and her family, including her daughters, Dilyn, 27, and Keegan, 14. 

“I can do really hard things, and we all can,” she said. “I didn’t have a choice, you know? 

“In all honesty, I looked at it like there’s no choice. You have to be strong, you have to move forward, you have to stay positive, you have to make a happy environment for all of the chemo to work, and the cancer to go away. 

“And that’s just really what I’ve been focusing on, is trying to have a healthy, happy place for my body. 

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“It’s not just doing treatment for me,” she further explained.

“It’s supplements and diet and certain exercises. It’s kind of amazing how the body will heal. 

“I have a whole new profound love for my body. I will never pick it apart again. And it looks crazy. And I love it because it shows up.”

Explaining what the best and worst advice she has had from others, she said, “I made a friend who just said, ‘Oh, it’s not that big of a deal’. It stuck in my head, and she’s like, ‘If I can do it, you can do it.’

“And so I kind of just went at it like that. She went through it, she just got through it. I’m gonna follow in her footsteps. 

“She says it’s not that bad. It’s not gonna be that bad. And, you know, you just hope for that.

“The worst, the funniest advice is people will say, ‘In a year, you will look back, and it’ll be behind you.’ And it’s not, it’s a forever thing. It’s forever.

“But the good news on that is I am tested every month. So if I hadn’t had it, I wouldn’t be doing that testing. 

“So at least if something were to come up, we would know about it right away.”

She went on, “I try to live a pretty detoxed life. And a lot of products, a lot of beauty products, a lot of shampoos, cleaners, laundry stuff, a lot of things in our lives cause cancer. 

MUSICAL HEALING

“So I think it’s really important to be aware.”

She explained that everything from rebounder workouts on a trampoline to rock music has been helping her. 

“I do rebounder, it’s really fantastic for the lymphatic system. It’s really easy to do.

“My body doesn’t really recover like it used to so I have to be careful, but I lift weights and do rebounder.

“It’s like a 35 per cent of the cancer returning, there are a lot of studies on it. 

“I do that, I turn on loud music and jump around like a fool. 

“Sometimes it’s meditation music, sometimes it’s hard rock or rap music. Music in general gets you through a lot.”

Talking about her plans for next year, she added, “I have some projects that I’m really passionate about that I hope come to fruition.

“I’m trying to manifest that to happen. And just being productive, just getting out and meeting people, talking. 

“I do a lot of speaking about cancer. A lot of advocacy. I’m doing a panel in December, me sitting on a panel, trying to turn it into, you know, the positive side of it all.”