MTV Icon Ananda Lewis Dies at 52 After Battle with Breast Cancer
Ananda Lewis, beloved MTV and BET host, passed away at 52 after a public, courageous battle with breast cancer.
WASHINGTON – AUGUST 17: Ananda Lewis arrives at Radio One’s 25th Anniversary Awards Gala August 17, 2006 in Washington DC. (Photo by Nancy Ostertag/Getty Images)
If you were a music-loving teen in the late '90s or early 2000s, chances are you saw Ananda Lewis on your screen before dinner. With her bold voice, big heart, and even bigger presence, she was the face of shows like Total Request Live and Hot Zone, connecting fans with their favorite stars. Sadly, Lewis passed away on Wednesday at 52 after a long and courageous fight with breast cancer.
Her sister, Lakshmi Emory, confirmed her death. According to TMZ, Lewis died peacefully at her home in Los Angeles on Wednesday morning.
Lewis first revealed her diagnosis of stage III breast cancer in 2020 on Instagram, where she shared that she had avoided mammograms out of concern about radiation exposure. In a 2024 CNN roundtable, she shared more: her cancer had spread, becoming stage IV, and she had not undergone a double mastectomy.
Lewis started her career with Teen Summit on BET—a talk show hosted by teens, for teens. After graduating from Howard University in 1995, her talents caught the attention of MTV. She joined the network in 1997 and quickly became one of its most recognizable video jockeys, or VJs.
From 1997 onward, Lewis hosted fan-favorite MTV shows like Total Request Live, where she counted down the hottest music videos, and Hot Zone, where she interviewed some of the biggest stars of the day. In 2001, she left MTV to create The Ananda Lewis Show, a daytime talk show that aired until 2002.
She later joined The Insider, a spinoff of Entertainment Tonight, as a correspondent from 2004 to 2005. But Lewis wasn’t one to stay in one lane—after stepping away from TV, she trained as a carpenter and contractor (yes, with a hammer and everything!). In 2019, she made a small-screen comeback as the host of TLC’s While You Were Out revival.
Born in Los Angeles in 1973, Lewis moved to San Diego as a child after her parents divorced. She grew up surrounded by women—her mother, grandmother, and sister—and later raised a son of her own, Langston, who survives her.
