Mindy Cohn, best known for her role as Natalie in the 1980s sitcom The Facts of Life, revealed Sunday that she was diagnosed with cancer for a second time.
On Instagram, the actress posted a photo of her lying in a hospital bed with the caption: “have been off social media for awhile ‘ cuz i had to go kick cancer’s ass.”
In the photo, Cohn is smiling and giving a thumbs-up. In her post, she thanked the staff of Providence Saint John’s Hospital, located in Santa Monica, and her “phenomenal” oncology surgeon, Dr. Anton Bilchik.
She also thanked close friends including The Morning Show actress Tara Karsian and The Rookie star Gregory Zarian, along with his husband, John Stewart.
They “have been my advocates and always on the ready to help me when it’s ‘my turn’. recouping for another couple of weeks and then ready for my next adventure. onwards! F**K Cancer!” she ended the post.
This is the second time Cohn has battled cancer. In 2017, she revealed that she’d had a five-year battle with breast cancer.
“I kept that secret for a long time,” she told People at the time. “I’ve always been an optimist, 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 was one of the stars of Facts of Life for its entire nine-season run from 1979-88. More recently, she co-starred opposite Kristen Wiig in Apple TV+’s Palm Royale.
Cohn received a flood of well wishes from famous faces in the comment section of her most recent post, including Sarah Paulson, who wrote “Sending love … your way.” Rhea Seehorn wrote: “MINDY!!!! F**CK that nonsense!!!! Sending you love and healing to the moon and back!”
Other well wishers included Octavia Spencer, Chelsea Handler, Vicki Lawrence, Helen Hunt, Lucy Hale, Daphne Zuniga, Peri Gilpin, Johnny Weir and Holly Peete.
Read her full post below.
