The Devil Wears Prada 2’s Lucy Liu recalls misdiagnosed cancer scare led to unnecessary surgery

The Devil Wears Prada 2 actress Lucy Liu shared that a doctor wrongly diagnosed her with cancer without proper tests, and she underwent surgery for a non-cancerous lump in the 1990s.

Lucy Liu received an inaccurate cancer diagnosis and underwent unnecessary surgery.

The Devil Wears Prada 2 star was petrified after she found a lump in her breast and a doctor “sort of felt the lump and said it was cancer”, and Lucy went without “getting screened” or having tests, such as “an ultrasound or a mammogram”, in the 1990s.

The 57-year-old star added to People: “I didn’t really think too much about it. But it was scary, because at that time, there was less information that was available, because we didn’t have internet.”

She resisted getting a “second opinion” on the lump because she thought the doctor had correctly diagnosed her.

The Charlie’s Angels actress admitted: “Even though my friend had said to get a second opinion, I sort of thought, ‘Well, what’s the point? The doctor knows what they’re talking about.”

Lucy immediately pushed ahead with surgery to have the lump removed, and after the operation, she learned it was non-cancerous.

The Elementary alum said that experience was the “beginning of understanding how to advocate for myself”, and she is focused on learning and growing from it.

Lucy said: “I never really reflect and regret. I always look at a situation, and I grow from it. I think there are too many punishing moments that you can have, and I don’t think it should start from that place.

“I think it should start from a much more positive place, because you can’t go back in time. So it’s more like, ‘OK, what can I do differently and what is a better choice for myself and for others?'”

Now, the entertainer is encouraging others to get checked out through cancer screening.

She said: “It’s not about the fixing, it’s about really understanding what screening is, and about information and advocacy. That’s a really important thing.

“And even though there is so much available to us technologically, a lot of people don’t do it because they don’t want to know if something’s wrong or they’re too busy.

“[But] as busy as you are, it’s a lifesaving thing, because, oftentimes, it’s caught too late, and at that point, you’re basically scrambling to figure out what your resources are.”

Lucy added: “I feel like a lot of people have been advocating for themselves more and more, and especially for women’s health in general.

“I think it’s vital, because I don’t want to continue to lose people, and I don’t want people to feel hurt and lost and scared.

“I want this to be part of their regular regimen: if you can get up every single day and work out, this is something you do just once or twice a year for yourself, and it is really critical.”