"The Facts of Life" Star Mindy Cohn Reveals 5-Year Battle with Breast Cancer
by Steve Helling
Oct. 18, 2017


One morning in 2012, Mindy Cohn’s life changed forever.

“I was walking around my neighborhood in Los Angeles and I suddenly got so tired,” says the actress best known for playing Natalie Green in the ’80s sitcom "The Facts of Life". “I just couldn’t go anymore. This was before Uber was really a thing, so I texted my friend Helen Hunt and said, ‘Something’s wrong with me. I need help.’”

Cohn went to the doctor, and a scan showed something in her breast. Before she knew it, she was being biopsied. The news was devastating. “It was breast cancer,” she tells PEOPLE. “I kept that secret for a long time.”





For the next five years, Cohn, now 51, underwent what she now calls a “siege.” She ultimately underwent a double mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiation.

Before the diagnosis, Cohn had always been the rock-steady center of her circle of friends. The five-year ordeal drained her, however. “I’ve always been an optimist,” she says.

“But the cancer metastasized. It kept spreading and coming back. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, and then it would. And then I’d wait for another shoe to drop, and it would. I was frustrated and enraged. I couldn’t control any of this. I couldn’t fix it.”





Cohn had always kept busy since doing "The Facts of Life" (In addition to multiple on-camera roles, she did the voice of Velma on the rebooted What’s New, Scooby-Doo for more than a decade), After her diagnosis, she stepped away from Hollywood to recuperate.

Cohn found refuge with her close friends, Josh Kilmer-Purcell and Dr. Brent Ridge, lifestyle gurus best known for their reality show "The Fabulous Beekman Boys". There, on their 60-acre farm outside Sharon Springs, NY, she found a peaceful place to battle the disease and recover.

“They are my family,” she says. “I have my parents, who have always been there for me. And then I have my family by choice, which includes them. We’ll be in each others’ lives forever.”





Today, Cohn is cancer free – and back in Hollywood. She’s become more active on her Twitter and Instagram. She’s healthy enough to plan a trip climbing Machu Picchu with Kilmer-Purcell and Ridge next year.

Most of all, she’s looking forward to landing new and interesting acting roles. “I’m feeling great,” she says. “And I’m so ready to get back to working. I think I’m a good actress, and I have a lot to offer. I’m excited to see what I get to do next!”

http://ew.com/tv/2017/10/18/facts-of-life-mindy-cohn-breast-cancer/

This is the first that I am hearing of any of this! I had no idea that Mindy ever had cancer! On top of this, I did not know that she and Helen Hunt were friends. Helen Hunt is my favorite actress in the entire world! In closing, I would like to say that I agree with what Mindy said. She is a very good actress!

I'm so glad she's recovered. She's my sixth-favorite Eastland girl.

Climbing Machu Picchu as a reward for beating "the Big C" sounds like it will be an awesome experience.

I, too, did not know she was friends with Helen Hunt. I wonder if they've been friends since that Facts of Life episode ("Dope") where Tumpy and Helen Hunt get Sue Ann to smoke marijuana, or if they became friends many years thereafter.

Wow, this is the first I've heard of it. Life is so fragile. I'm praying that Mindy will be in the best of health. Cancer is merciless.

Oh man, wow, that's surprising. I like Mindy on Facts of Life. It's wonderful that she beat cancer.

:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)
So glad to hear Mindy is doing well
offtopic: Helen Hunt was in Season 1 episode Dope

:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)
So glad to hear Mindy is doing well
offtopic: Helen Hunt was in Season 1 episode Dope


I remember Helen's part in that episode. I thought she did great in that part and, just about everything else she has been in!

Helen Hunt was very good in that episode.

Good to hear that Mindy is doing well---all the best to her!

And yes, that is fascinating that she and Helen Hunt are friends...I too wonder if they clicked on the set as Natalie and Emily? That would be cool.

It really would! Friends for nearly 40 years, based on Helen Hunt's guest spot.

Or maybe they met at a party, years later, and Helen Hunt said, "You know, I was on an episode..."

And Mindy interrupts and says, "I know! You were pushing drugs on Blair and Sue Ann!" And then they bonded, and have been friends ever since.


Well, those are two possible scenarios. :lol: