It's been 18 months since Maria Menounos was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and 16 months since she underwent surgery to have the benign meningioma removed. Fast forward to just a few days ago, Menounos celebrated her marriage to writer and producer Kevin Undergaro with a second wedding in her family's hometown in Greece. (The first wedding memorably took place with a surprise ceremony on Fox's New Year's Eve live show.)
The idea of having even one wedding—let alone two—would have been an overwhelming prospect for Menounos two years ago. Before the diagnosis, Menounos was a self-described workaholic living under extreme stress and pressure to excel in her career as a TV host and entertainment journalist. Back then, a wedding to her partner of 20 years felt like it had no place in her busy schedule. But forced bed rest left Menounos with plenty of time to reflect on her life, and among others, one particular decision emerged: She wanted to get married.
"When we were going through recovery, I kept looking at Kevin because he was so amazing. He never left my side in the hospital and slept on a tiny couch that fits a child. He took such good care of me," Menounos told Prevention earlier this year. "Before [the diagnosis], it was like, we’re too busy to get married, it doesn’t matter. It did matter, actually, and it was really beautiful and meant a lot."
Small steps toward change
Menounos was already well-acquainted with the symptoms of a brain tumor even before her diagnosis. As fate would have it, her mother, Litsa, had been diagnosed stage IV brain cancer just months before Menounos began to feel similar symptoms: blurred vision, headaches, and lightheadedness. After delaying an MRI three times, Menounos realized she needed to make her health a priority and get tested, according to Women's Health. The MRI showed she had a benign tumor, but she would still need a major surgery to have it removed.
Even before her mom's diagnosis, Menounos realized the immense pressure and "toxic energy" she was facing at work was having a negative impact on her health. She started to make tiny changes, like creating an automated email to delegate certain tasks to others on her team. When her mom found out she had cancer, Menounos admits she still struggled to fully set aside work expectations and spend quality time with her mom. Her own diagnosis, however, changed everything.
"I knew I needed to change before and didn’t know quite how to do it. That’s why I really believe God sent me this tumor as a gift. Everything had to come to a screeching halt, and I had so much time to reevaluate," Menounos told Prevention. "When we’re in the tornado of life, you don’t have time to really assess what’s going on—what’s going right, what’s going wrong, taking inventory. It’s so much easier to do when you’re stuck in bed and there’s nothing that can distract you," she said.
"I was living with high anxiety and stress and endured more than I ever should have. I know I’m not alone in that—especially being a woman, it’s definitely tough out there. I remember being in the hospital and thinking, I don’t want that life anymore. I’m so turned off by the go, go, go, achieve, achieve, achieve. I still want to achieve, but I want to achieve at a healthy pace and be happy."
A new understanding of self care
Menounos' surgery took place June 8, 2017—her 39th birthday—and the doctors were able to successfully remove 99.9 percent of the tumor, which has only a slim chance of returning, she told Women's Health. Her mother also recovered and is doing well.
These days, Menounos is still staying busy as the CEO of AfterBuzz TV and the host of her own SiriusXM show and podcast, Conversations with Maria. However, she's learned to approach work at her own pace without letting it take priority over her health. And through her new role as an ambassador for Rally Health, she's spreading that message to women across the country. It all starts, she explains, with a new understanding of self care as a process that combines not just physical, but also emotional, spiritual, and mental health.
"We can’t be everything to everyone and nothing to ourselves," she says. "We’ve gone from being human beings to human doings at this point, and we’re making ourselves sick. We’re so type A and think we’re supposed to be perfect. This is what I’m speaking to women all over the country about. We have to abandon the need to be perfect."
"That is my biggest message to women: We have to take it down a notch and love each other enough to respect our health and our happiness."
Jenae is the editorial assistant for Prevention.com, where she regularly covers nutrition, beauty, celebrity workouts, and health trends. Previously, she was an intern at ELLE and CountryLiving.com and a web producer for O, the Oprah Magazine. When she’s not writing about health and wellness, Jenae is either playing video games or reading tweets about The Bachelor.
