Jill Goodacre, a former Victoria’s Secret model and wife of Harry Connick, Jr., is detailing her five-year cancer battle.
In October of 2012, Jill, 53, went for a sonogram of her breasts after a routine mammogram. Doctors found a Stage 1 invasive ductal carcinoma and she underwent two lumpectomys and radiation.
“The lumpectomy didn’t come back with clean margins,” Jill said (via People). “So I had to go in for a second surgery the very next day. And then radiation absolutely wiped me out. And since then there’s been the Tamoxifen, which I’ve now been taking for five years.”
Tamoxifen is a pill that helps prevent the growth of hormone receptor-positive breast cancers.
“I’ve always been a pretty fit person, and so to be just rounder and heavier and not to really be able to do much about it – that’s been hard. It’s taken a lot out of my self-confidence,” Jill said of the side effects of the pill.
“It wasn’t like we were superstitious, like if we said something about being in the clear we’d somehow jinx it,” Jill continued about keeping her battle a secret from most people. “But we wanted to be well on the other side of things before we told everybody. The doctors all say that after the five-year mark, things look optimistic, so we’re starting to feel pretty good.”
“All I wanted to do was grow old with you and have as many years as possible as I could with you,” Harry added.
The couple will detail her battle on Thursday’s episode of Harry.
