Wanda Sykes Talks to Ellen DeGeneres about Having Breast Cancer and a Double Masectomy

Wanda Sykes has come out about having breast cancer. She had a double mastectomy earlier this year and will reportedly alk about it during an interview to air Monday Sept. 26 on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. According to People, the cancer was found after she had undergone breast reduction.

"This was in February. I went for the reduction. I had real big boobs and I just got tired of knocking over stuff. Every time I eat … Oh lord. I’d carry a Tide stick everywhere I go," she quips. "My back was sore so it was time to have a reduction. It wasn't until after the reduction that in the lab work, the pathology, that they found that I had DCIS [ductal carcinoma in situ] in my left breast. I was very, very lucky because DCIS is basically stage-zero cancer. So I was very lucky."

Sykes, 47, has a history of breast cancer in her family, so she opted to have a bilateral mastectomy.

"I had both breasts removed … because now I have zero chance of having breast cancer. It sounds scary up front, but what do you want? Do you want to wait and not be as fortunate when it comes back and it’s too late?"

According to People, Sykes says she waffled on whether to come out about the cancer diagnosis: "I was like, I don't know, should I talk about it or what? How many things could I have? I'm Black, then Lesbian. I can't be the poster child for everything."