In an emotional revelation, supermodel Elle Macpherson has this week lifted the lid on a heartbreaking cancer diagnosis, but says she refused conventional treatment from the get-go.
Instead, the Australian beauty - nicknamed 'The Body' during her illustrious 1980s cover-girl career - claims her own natural 'course of action' aided her in her recovery.
Speaking to Woman's Weekly, 60-year-old Macpherson revealed she was first dealt the brutal health blow back in 2017, and was told by medics at the time that she had HER2-positive oestrogen-receptive intraductal carcinoma.
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The breast cancer diagnosis saw the star immediately advised by 32 doctors to undergo chemotherapy, as well as a mastectomy, radiation, hormone therapy and a reconstruction of her breast.
Reflecting on her diagnosis, Macpherson claimed the news came as 'a shock'.
"It was unexpected," she confessed. "It was confusing, it was daunting in so many ways and it really gave me an opportunity to dig deep in my inner sense to find a solution that worked for me."
In the face of the medical advice she received, the businesswoman now admits she declined chemotherapy, and opted to 'trust the nature' of her own body to handle the disease.
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At the time, she was dating prolific anti-vaxxer Andrew Wakefield, which may have swayed her rejection of traditional medicine - though this is a notion the model has never admitted to.
"Saying no to standard medical solutions was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life," she said. "But saying no to my own inner sense would have been even harder."
Instead, Macpherson claims she implemented daily prayer, and would regularly meditate outside her home on Miami beach, hoping that an 'intuitive, heart-led holistic approach' would assist in her recovery.
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"Sometimes an authentic choice from the heart makes no sense to others," she recently wrote in her memoir Don't Sweat The Small Stuff.
"But it doesn’t have to. People thought I was crazy but I knew I had to make a choice that truly resonated with me.
"To me, that meant addressing emotional as well as physical factors associated with breast cancer. It was time for deep, inner reflection. And that took courage."
Macpherson went on to reveal that her decision sparked mixed responses from her family members, particularly her two sons, whom she shares with ex-husband, financier Arpad Busson.
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Whilst her youngest, Cy, 21, fully supported his mother's decision - believing chemotherapy was a 'kiss of death' that 'kills you' - her eldest, Flynn, 26, 'wasn't comfortable' with her choice 'at all'.
The supermodel added that her sons' father also 'didn't agree' with her course of action.
"Yet he wrote to me to tell me how proud he was of the courage I was showing," she added in her book. "Of course, he was scared because I’d decided not to take a conventional pharmaceutical route.
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"He considered that extreme. I, on the other hand, felt the chemo and surgery route was extreme."
Despite rejecting chemotherapy, the former Friends guest star did undergo a lumpectomy - which removed the cancerous tissue from her breast.
She also flew to Arizona, where she rented a house for eight months and could be under the care of several specialists, including her primary doctor, a doctor of naturopathy, holistic dentist, osteopath, chiropractor and two therapists.
Now, Macpherson says she's in 'clinical remission', if asked in 'traditional terms'.
"But I would say I’m in utter wellness. And I am!" the mother-of-two added. "Truly, from every perspective, every blood test, every scan, every imaging test...
"But also emotionally, spiritually and mentally – not only physically. It’s not only what your blood tests say, it’s how and why you are living your life on all levels."
Rhianna Benson