Former 'Dancing With the Stars' co-host Samantha Harris had a double mastectomy 10 years ago. Now her breast cancer is back. Here's how she's navigating 'cancer-versity' again.

In 2014, Samantha Harris, a former co-host of Dancing With the Stars and a correspondent for Entertainment Tonight, underwent a double mastectomy after being diagnosed with breast cancer. Harris later announced that she was cancer-free — and so when she found a “very tiny lump” nine years later in July 2023, she knew she had to take action.

“We did an ultrasound just to check and everything looked good,” Harris tells Yahoo Life over the phone. Still, the TV personality returned to her surgical oncologist from her original breast cancer diagnosis and pushed to get an ultrasound every three months.

This June, Harris’s doctors found that the lump had changed shape. They ordered a biopsy, which Harris, 50, says “detected invasive ductal carcinoma,” which starts in the milk ducts and spreads to nearby breast tissue. It is the most common type of breast cancer and accounts for 80% of cases. In August, Harris underwent surgery to remove the cancer, and is now working with her oncology team to determine the best course of action moving forward.

While a double mastectomy can lower breast cancer risk by more than 90%, it does not eliminate the risk entirely. But Harris does credit her past experience with breast cancer with teaching her what kind of screenings to ask for the second time around.

“I came into this with a much broader understanding,” explains Harris, who is now a certified health coach. “I had already gone through what we call ‘cancer-versity,’ which you go through when you’re diagnosed — you go through that learning curve of understanding what the terms are, and what your options are. I feel empowered coming into this recurrence, because I’m already way ahead of what happened 10 years ago.”

At the time of her initial breast cancer treatment, Harris told Entertainment Tonight that her double mastectomy was about doing what she could control. It’s a philosophy she maintains now during her second round of cancer.

“I believe in ‘Worry when you have to worry, and control what you can control,’” she says now. “There are so many things that you can worry about, and thankfully most of them don’t materialize. So, I'm going to compartmentalize it, and if I need to bring out worries front and center, I'll deal with it then.”

In terms of what she can control, Harris says she is focused on living as healthy of a lifestyle as possible. She now interviews experts in various wellness topics on her new podcast, Your Healthiest Healthy, which bears the same name as her 2018 book.

Harris focuses on nourishment, and makes sure she is eating a mostly plant-based diet with “lots of color and variety and fiber.” She also moves her body daily, and says she makes sure to use products with non-toxic ingredients.

Harris’s focus on mental health is now a big piece of creating her happiest, healthiest life. When she has the time, she likes to focus on breathwork. That can include a few minutes of “deep belly breathing” or a 20- to 30-minute guided meditation. “That can be really powerful,” she says.

One technique she also regularly uses is mindfulness. Instead of rushing through tasks like washing the dishes or chatting about her to-do list, Harris says she focuses on her sensory experience — like the feeling of the warm water on her hands. Or, she says, she takes a walk and “listens to the birds.”

Still, she notes, “you can go overboard” when you focus so much on health — which can create unwanted anxiety and stress. “I was able to really change up my life through small, manageable steps and make changes that are lasting, and that was really wonderful and powerful,” she says.