‘Baywatch’ Star Nicole Eggert Reveals She Got Mastectomy Amid Cancer Treatment

Eggert went public with her cancer diagnosis in January 2024, saying she’d been diagnosed with stage 2 cribriform carcinoma breast cancer the month before. She told People at the time she’d felt “terrible pain” in her left breast in October 2023 and assumed it was a menopause symptom, but called her doctor after feeling a lump in her breast during a self-exam.

“It really was throbbing and hurting,” she said. “I immediately went to my general practitioner, and she told me I had to immediately go get it looked at. But the problem was I just couldn’t get an appointment. Everything was booked. So I had to wait until the end of November to get it done.”

One mammogram and three biopsies later, Eggert got her diagnosis. Cribriform carcinoma is a subtype of invasive ductal carcinoma, the most common type of breast cancer, in which the cancer has spread beyond the milk ducts where it originated, according to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. But cribriform carcinoma is a rare subtype, affecting 5–6% of invasive breast cancers, the hospital adds.

“This journey’s been rough for me. This hasn’t been a breezy [sail] through life,” Eggert told People in January 2024. “I always read inspirational quotes and corny stuff, but it gets me through.”

Eggert played lifeguard Summer Quinn in the syndicated Baywatch’s third and fourth seasons, remaining on the payroll between 1992 and 1994, and she returned to the part for the 2003 TV movie Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding.

Previously, the actor starred as Jamie Powell in Charles in Charge, starting in that show’s second season and staying a cast member from 1987 to 1990. She played Jamie Powell, one of the kids Charles (Scott Baio) babysat in the CBS sitcom.

Eggert, who’s also a mother of two, told People a year ago that being a parent and participating in the recent documentary After Baywatch: Moment in the Sun have provided motivation for her not to dwell on her cancer diagnosis. “It’s giving me purpose,” she explained. “It’s keeping me driven every day. I think the timing of life is always for a reason. It’s been a great distraction, and my daughters kept me on my toes.”