Model Marie Helvin has revealed that she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a mastectomy that “saved her life”.
The 70-year-old, who has appeared on the cover of British Vogue seven times, said her new breast will “never be perfect”, but said it is “beautiful”.
Helvin said her diagnosis came as a shock because she kept herself “fit and healthy” and she thought she “didn’t fit the profile”.
In an interview with the Daily Mail, she said: “I had a vision, an idea of myself, I suppose, of how fit and healthy I was. As a model, my body was my instrument and I have always looked after it.
“I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I exercise every day, so I guess it made me think that something like this could not happen to me because I didn’t fit the profile.
“Now I know what a lot of rubbish that is. It’s made me realise that appearances are deceiving.”
Helvin, who was married to famous fashion photographer David Bailey for 10 years, said she should have known better because she’d been involved in many breast cancer awareness campaigns over the years.
“But it never actually occurred to me that this could happen to me,” she admitted. “Sometimes I just sit in bed and cry for no reason. Even after everything, there is part of me that can’t believe it happened. No one can explain to me why it did. It is just one of those things.”
The model said having nursed her own mother through breast cancer in the 1980s helped calm her nerves after discovering she would need a mastectomy.
“I was determined not to panic… I’d seen what it looked like and what [my mother] had experienced, but also that she made it through and survived another 25 years,” she said.
“So, of course I was scared, but not as scared as someone who has never witnessed anyone going through that. I made a choice to place my faith in the system and myself.”
