Kathy Bates has opened up about her decision not to have reconstructive surgery after being diagnosed with breast cancer 12 years ago.
While talking about the latest episode MeSsy with Christina Applegate and Jamie-Lynn Sigler podcast that aired Tuesday, Nov. 12, Bates, 76, noted that she enjoyed “not having breasts” after undergoing a double mastectomy following a 2012 breast cancer diagnosis.
Bates, who also previously had ovarian cancer in 2003, recalled how a friend was “concerned” that she had decided not to undergo reconstructive surgery.
“I decided not to go for reconstruction because at the age I was, I thought, you know, I really don’t want to go through that. I just didn’t want to go through that,” she said.
Kathy Bates July 13, 2024
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“You know, I wasn’t in a relationship, I was older and I didn’t think I’d be in a relationship, and it’s always like, why do I have to?” Bates continued.
“This might be really weird, but I had really heavy breasts. They were about 10 pounds when they had them removed. Really big, big breasts and I kind of enjoy not having breasts… it’s weird,” Titanic the star told the podcast.
Bates said this during the filming of the TV drama Matlockstarring Madeline Matlock, “they would come up with this really cool” kind of “camisole” made of a Spanx-like material.
“Very thin straps, and they put little, you know, fake cups, and they’re so comfortable…they give me a nice shape,” Bates, who underwent a mastectomy due to a family history of cancer, shared.
“I feel so good when I go out like that. For a while I just didn’t go out with any prophylactics or at all, you know, or I went out with them and they were hot and heavy and they made me miserable,” the star continued.
Elsewhere in the episode, Applegate, 52, opened up about her 2008 breast cancer diagnosis and double mastectomy.
The Dead to me star told Bates she opted for reconstructive surgery, sharing, “But I don’t have warts and I don’t care about that part. I don’t need them. I’m totally fine.”
“It’s like you can go out in a top without a bra, and no freaky guys go out,” she joked.
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Kathy Bates (left); Christina Applegate.
Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty; Emma McIntyre/Getty
In 2018, Bates spoke to PEOPLE about being diagnosed with stage 1 ovarian cancer in 2003. The then-55-year-old immediately underwent surgery and nine months of chemotherapy to treat it, but did not disclose her illness to the public.
“I didn’t tell anyone,” she said then. “I continued to work immediately after the operation, working The little black book with Brittany Murphy. My agent at the time was very old fashioned and didn’t want me to be the poster boy for ovarian cancer. I didn’t want anyone to know, but it really took a lot out of me.”
However, in 2012, she revealed her breast cancer diagnosis after opting for a double mastectomy. “My aunt died from it, my mother had it, my niece had it,” Bates previously noted to PEOPLE.
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Source: HIS Education