Iconic Aussie actress Magda Szubanski has declared she has \u201cnothing left to hide\u201d \u2013 opening up on her cancer prognosis, family health history and a childhood trauma secret she has carried for decades in a wide-ranging interview.<\/p>\n
Szubanski, 65, has been battling Mantle Cell Lymphoma, a rare and aggressive blood cancer, since May last year.<\/p>\n
In February, she announced she was in remission.<\/p>\n
Appearing on 60 Minutes \u2013 marking her first public interview since revealing her diagnosis \u2013 Szubanski said it was an \u201cincurable relapse in cancer\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, it\u2019s almost sure that it will come back. It\u2019s a question of \u2018when\u2019 and then \u2018how bad\u2019,\u201d she told the program and host Tracy Grimshaw.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe median survival rate is eight-and-a-half years. So, I could go less, or I could go more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Szubanski joked she would \u201cpitch for more\u201d as she opened up on her health battle.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew something was wrong. I just felt so unwell,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She described how she had felt like her bones were \u201csplitting\u201d \u2013 later learning her bone marrow was inflamed at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would wake me up in the middle of the night, literally wake up with my sorts of dream voice saying \u2018you\u2019re dying, you\u2019re dying\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, it was like, dude, there\u2019s something wrong here. You know, there\u2019s something really wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
In an ironic twist, after visiting a haematologist for her bone marrow biopsy, Szubanski said she had to film an ad for Medibank.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was \u2026 a bizarre, bizarre experience,\u201d she laughed.<\/p>\n
Szubanski said the chemotherapy treatment \u201cannihilates\u201d your immune system, comparing it to a \u201cmulti-car pile up\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not being a Pollyanna about this because I think that\u2019s not fair to people to do that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was freaking hard, but when I say it was doable, it was.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy results put me in good stead, but it can change.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know all of us live, with a Damocles sword hanging over our heads.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut for those of us who, you know, it hangs by only a couple of strands, it\u2019s a very different feeling.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is just a different state of consciousness. It\u2019s a different awareness of death. It\u2019s not abstract.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the program, Szubanski opened up on her family\u2019s history of health problems.<\/p>\n
When she was six, her father was diagnosed with cancer.<\/p>\n
She also revealed her mother had pancreatic cancer and her sister has lymphoma.<\/p>\n
Szubanski joked her brother was the \u201cf**king odd one out\u201d after he head a heart attack and a quintuple bypass.<\/p>\n
Host Tracy Grimshaw also touched on Szubanski\u2019s public work as an activist for gay rights.<\/p>\n
For the first time, Szubanski shared that she had been sexually abused as a young child by older children.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hadn\u2019t understood. I just thought it was kids playing. And then they locked me in a wardrobe in the backyard in the midday sun,\u201d she told Ms Grimshaw.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was mainly the thing of sort of being manipulated, and being \u2026 and that horrible feeling that you are able to be manipulated.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think probably the thing that makes me feel the worst that I feel most ashamed about is that I then did the same thing.<\/p>\n
Szubanski said she felt some kind of \u201crelief\u201d of a \u201cburden\u201d talking about it.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause to say it out loud, it just, you can just feel this change of, like, \u2018Wow, it\u2019s lost its power over me. That shame has lost its power over me\u2019,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t believe I\u2019m saying all this stuff on national television, but I\u2019m also 65, and I\u2019ve got cancer, and who f**king cares?<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a part of me that thinks, \u2018If there\u2019s anything that I know that\u2019s gonna help someone else, I don\u2019t know how long I\u2019ve got, I\u2019m gonna bloody share it\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Szubanski has made few public appearances since her diagnosis \u2013 save for a wild appearance at the 2026 Logie Awards where she stepped back into the spotlight alongside Robert Irwin.<\/p>\n
During the Awards, Szubanski donned a khaki fit-out with a bandage, arm sling and various other mock injuries, as Irwin introduced her as Australia Zoo\u2019s newest team member.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t all the trainees fall in the tiger enclosure?\u201d Szubanski asked.<\/p>\n
The pair paid homage to her Kath and Kim days before she joked if Irwin could announce the award for the coveted the Gold Logie Award for Most Popular Personality on Australian Television<\/p>\n
When Irwin retorted that he couldn\u2019t as he might be the winner, Szubanski responded with her characteristic wit.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike, do you really think that\u2019s gonna happen, Robert?\u201d Szubanski asked.<\/p>\n
Irwin then put on his best Sharon Strzelecki voice.<\/p>\n
\u201cSharon, you can\u2019t leave me. You can\u2019t leave me, Sharon. This is TV\u2019s night of nights, Sharon. Look at me. No, look at me. Look at me. I\u2019ve got one word to say to you Sharon \u2014 pleaaaase,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iconic Aussie actress Magda Szubanski has declared she has \u201cnothing left to hide\u201d \u2013 opening up on 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