Julia Louis-Dreyfus on being told she had cancer: ‘all the tropes are true’
Sarah Marsh
Julia Louis-Dreyfus found out she had breast cancer one day after winning an Emmy, her sixth consecutive for playing Selina Meyer on Veep and eighth overall for acting. Julia announced her diagnosis in 2017, and is now Julia sharing more about the moment when she got the call that day six years ago. While appearing with journalist David Remnick at the 2023 New Yorker Festival last Friday, Julia spoke candidly about the way she responded to her doctor over the phone, and also described the powerful memory she said got her through the treatment that followed.
“I started laughing. Well, because the night before, I had won an Emmy. And so, I came downstairs and … the Emmy was there. It was like on the dining room table. I’m coming down to get coffee. My cell phone rings, and it’s my doctor saying, ‘Guess what, you have cancer,’” she recalled.
“And I’m like, ‘Huh? What?’ And so, it was a very bizarre juxtaposition,” she continued “And, of course, I did laugh, and then I became hysterical, crying, because I was terrified, as most people are, or as all people are if they get a diagnosis like that.”
She said she was fortunate to have her family rally around her as she began to navigate the unknown. “I have a very strong and supportive family, and for which I am eternally grateful, upon whom I relied — sisters, husband, my sons, my mother, my mothers, my stepmother, everybody,” she said.
Still, she continued, “I was deeply terrified because who wouldn’t be? I mean, all the tropes are true. You know, you get that call and it’s like, ‘What, me? No, no, no.’ I mean, you can’t imagine that something like that would happen to you.”
To get through her grueling chemotherapy sessions, Louis-Dreyfus told Remnick she focused on a memory of a particularly unnerving moment from her past to motivate her.
“I’ve said it before, but many, many years ago, I was on a boat with my husband. I was swimming in the water. He came to the bow of the boat and he said, ‘Jules, I don’t want you to panic, but there’s a shark in the water, so you need to come back.’ And I was far away from the boat,” she explained.
“And so, I just saw the ladder and I started swimming towards it, and I made the decision not to look around me at all. I was just going to stay looking at the ladder. And that very much applied to how I got through my cancer adventure — was sort of looking at the ladder. Just let’s get this done, let’s get there.”
Ok, first of all, I hope her doctor didn’t actually say “Guess what, you have cancer,” but that’s just Julia’s way of highlighting the absurdity of going from Emmy win to breast cancer overnight. But I do appreciate the license she takes for storytelling purposes, because the way she recalls the moment is so vivid I felt like I could see each moment happening. The confusion to laughter to hysteria to tears (a trajectory you know she could act the sh*t out of, by the way). And while she mentioned speaking about the shark story before, it was new to me, and holy cow was that a powerful image. Again I find Julia’s language incredibly cinematic. It wasn’t her inclination to be public with her cancer diagnosis, but she’s given great comfort to others by sharing the many facets of her personal experience.
To end on a selfish note: I miss Veep so much. Julia said it was freeing to play Selina Meyer — it was also freeing to watch her! But I guess what I also miss is when it was just a funny show on Max (née HBO) and not, you know, our actual politicians.
Photos credit: Faye’s Vision/Cover Images, MediaPunch/Backgrid and Getty
