Marcia Cross Opens Up About Her Experience With Anal Cancer

The "Desperate Housewives" star wants to end shame around the disease.
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Marcia Cross recently got candid about her experience with anal cancer in an effort to reduce the stigma associated with the disease.

“I’ve read a lot of cancer-survivor stories, and many people, women especially, were too embarrassed to say what kind of cancer they had,” the “Desperate Housewives” actress told People magazine in an interview published Wednesday.

“There is a lot of shame about it. I want that to stop,” she said.

The actress first announced that she was post-cancer in September 2018 after sharing a selfie of her hair loss with her followers on Instagram.

Cross told People that she was diagnosed with anal cancer in November 2017 and began radiation and chemotherapy soon after.

“In the beginning, I just sort of lay down for the parting of the cheeks and I would float away,” she told the outlet. “Because what are you going to do?”

Now, after going through everything, Cross describes herself as “a big fan of the anus!”

These days, Cross is happy and healthy. The actresses’ husband, Tom Mahoney, is also a cancer survivor.

“All good now,” she wrote on Instagram last year. “Hard journey but I am HEALTHY, and more present and grateful than ever.”

Anal cancer is an uncommon type of cancer, according to the Mayo Clinic. Typical symptoms include itching, the appearance of certain growths, pain and/or bleeding from the anus.

Actress Farrah Fawcett also had anal cancer. The “Charlie’s Angels” star was first diagnosed in 2006 and died from the disease in 2009 at the age of 62.

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