Ananda Lewis, the former MTV and BET host known for her warmth and honesty, has died at the age of 52. Her sister, Lakshmi Emory, confirmed Lewis’s passing in a Facebook post on Wednesday. Lewis had been fighting breast cancer.
“She’s free, and in His heavenly arms,” Emory wrote. “Lord, rest her soul.”
Born in San Diego, Lewis first gained fame as the host of BET’s Teen Summit. The show addressed issues facing Black youth and featured community leaders, entertainers, and politicians. Lewis conducted notable interviews with figures such as Kobe Bryant, Tupac Shakur, Louis Farrakhan, and then-First Lady Hillary Clinton. Her work earned her an NAACP Image Award.
In 1997, Lewis moved to MTV, where she hosted shows including MTV Live, Hot Zone, and Total Request Live, a popular daily top 10 video countdown.
Lewis told The Associated Press that she faced some criticism after switching from BET to MTV. However, she believed her fans understood her decision.
“I wouldn’t say in a strong way,” she said. “Most people in my fan base at Teen Summit understand that growth is necessary. The message was always about living your life and becoming the person you want to be. I told kids to ‘be your best and take advantage of every opportunity,’ so I couldn’t ignore a chance to grow.”
In 2001, Lewis launched her own daytime talk show, The Ananda Lewis Show. She told the AP that she was not trying to reinvent daytime television.
“There’s only so much you can do differently in daytime,” she said. “People expect a certain format, and that won’t change soon. The goal isn’t to reinvent the wheel but to make it work better.”
The show ran for one season. Later, Lewis became a correspondent for The Insider, a spin-off of Entertainment Tonight.
Lewis was open about her breast cancer diagnosis, which she made public in 2020. At that time, her cancer was at stage 3 and later advanced to stage 4 in 2024. She had been living with the disease for six years.
Initially, doctors recommended a double mastectomy, but Lewis chose alternative treatments. She later admitted this was a mistake and became an advocate for regular mammogram screenings.
In her announcement, she urged others to prioritize early detection. “I need you to share this with the women in your life who may be as stubborn as I was about mammograms,” she said. “Early detection, especially for breast cancer, changes your outcome. It can save their life.”
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