'The Office' Star Jenna Fischer Reveals How She Hid Breast Cancer Diagnosis For Nearly A Year
Jenna Fischer is opening up about her cancer diagnosis and how she’s doing these days.
In an Instagram post earlier this month, The Office alum shared that she has quietly been in treatment for cancer.
“I never thought I’d be making an announcement like this, but here we are,” she wrote in the caption of a length post, which started with a photo of herself and ended with the 50-year-old celebrating "ringing the bell" with her family. (Typically, cancer patients ring a bell after completing treatment.)
A few weeks later on October 21, Jenna opened up to Today about her journey to diagnosis, including how her initial mammogram led to a series of other tests.
Here’s what Jenna shared about her diagnosis, plus how she’s doing now.
What cancer does Jenna Fischer have?
Jenna was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her journey to diagnosis started after she went in for a mammogram in October 2023 that she had put off.
“Three weeks later, they said, ‘Oh, your mammogram was fine. There were a few spots that were difficult to see. You have very dense tissue. We would recommend that you do another mammogram and maybe follow up with a breast ultrasound,’” she told Today. “I was like, ‘This is the appointment that won’t end.’”
Fischer said that she had “no level of concern” when she went in for a breast ultrasound. But afterwards, she was asked to have a biopsy. In that bioposy, the doctors found something, which she was told had a “10 percent chance it’s cancerous.”
Ultimately, Fischer received her results on her patient portal while she was on a hike by herself. “I checked the portal on the hike, and that’s when I saw words like ‘invasive,’ ‘ductal,’ ‘carcinoma,’ ‘malignant,’” she said. “And I was like, ‘Those words sound like cancer words.’”
Her doctor later confirmed her diagnosis, and Fischer said she was in “disbelief.”
When did Jenna Fischer have cancer? What stage was it?
Jenna had stage 1 triple-positive breast cancer. She was officially diagnosed on Dec. 1, 2023.
Triple-positive breast cancer occurs when breast cancer cells use estrogen receptors, progesterone receptors, and HER2 protein to grow, according to MD Anderson Cancer Center. It's a subtype of HER2 positive breast cancer that accounts for about 10 percent of all breast cancer diagnoses.
Did Jenna Fischer lose her hair?
Yes, Jenna lost her hair during cancer treatment.
"When they told me I had to have chemo, the first thing I thought was, 'I don’t want to throw up, and I don’t want to lose my hair,'" she told Today. "I did not throw up, but I did lose my hair."
"It's all us ladies talk about. How much Googling did I do of hair and pictures of hair and, 'What will it look like?' It’s funny. The way that I lost it, it doesn’t come out evenly," she said. “It comes out in fits and starts. And so I started by having just like a big, bald patch down this side of my head. And I would kind of do like a real elaborate comb-over."
While some cancer patients will shave their hair, Jenna said she didn’t. “I never had a big shave-your-head moment," she said.. "I don’t know why. I thought, 'Oh, should I cut it first? Should I shave it? What do I do?' And I didn’t.”
"I always had a little hair right here," she said. "I always had a little hair in the back. And since I was trying to stay undercover, those little bits of flyaways, they sort of helped with the illusion of hair. I kind of [looked] like Friar Tuck, nothing on top and then just a little something over here.”
She also said that she wore wigs and hats with hair. Now, she has a shorter pixie cut, which she displayed in her Instagram post.
“I wanted a photo of myself in my patchy pixie looking happy and healthy to go along with this news,” she wrote in her caption.
How is Jenna Fischer doing now?
Jenna said that she had a lumpectomy in January 2024 to remove the tumor, then underwent 12 rounds of chemo beginning in February and three weeks of radiation beginning in June. She’s also been treated with infusions of two other medications, which she will stay on until February 2025.
“I’m happy to say that I was recently re-screened and the treatments worked,” she said on Instagram. “I am cancer free. I will continue to be treated and monitored to help me stay that way.”
Congrats, Jenna!
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