Sarah Ferguson Says Mind to ‘Dark Places’ After Cancer Diagnoses

Sarah Ferguson is opening up about the impact two back-to-back cancer diagnoses had on her mental health.

“It was hard. I’m generally a positive person but cancer is like a bomb going off in your life,” Sarah Ferguson, 65, told The Times in an interview published on Friday, January 17. “One diagnosis is enough to deal with, but I had two in the space of a year. I don’t mind admitting that my mind went to some dark places, reflecting on my own mortality.”

Ferguson announced in June 2023 that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer following a routine mammogram. She later underwent a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery. Just six months later, in January 2024, the duchess announced she was diagnosed with malignant melanoma, a type of skin cancer.

“Her dermatologist asked that several moles were removed and analyzed at the same time as the Duchess was undergoing reconstructive surgery following her mastectomy, and one of those has been identified as cancerous,” a representative for the royal family member said in a statement to Us Weekly at the time.

While Ferguson recently joked to The Times that she renamed her reconstructed breast “Derek,” she also revealed that her back-to-back cancer diagnoses took an immense toll on her mental health. Thankfully, she explained, she found ways to cope.

“I’ve used meditation and mindfulness to help stay positive and balanced,” she explained, adding that her family has been “an immense support to me through this period.” (Ferguson shares daughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie with her ex-husband and embattled royal, Prince Andrew.)

In June 2024, while speaking to Hello!, Ferguson gave royal fans a health update, saying that she has to be “checked regularly” and has to “put cream on my face to get out past sun damage.”

“(It) means big blisters on my face, chest and hands for three weeks,” she explained at the time. “But I’m not doing immunotherapy, taking any drugs or doing chemotherapy, for which I’m very grateful.”

In the same profile interview, Ferguson once again praised her “most exceptional family,” going on to say that she has “an extraordinarily great team” and an “enormous ability to turn to joy.”

“I have always brought my girls to be so honest and frank that they know I’m going to tell it to them straight, however difficult it is,” the duchess continued.

In May 2024, while appearing on an episode of U.K’s This Morning, Princess Beatrice revealed that her mother was in the “all clear.”

“She’s such a phenomenal icon. As a mum, she’s been amazing, she’s been through so much and her sense of purpose and resilience really keeps me going,” the royal said at the time. “At 64 she’s thriving; she’s been through so much, but I think really now she’s coming into her own.”