Maria Menounos's Cancer Journey

American and Greek television host, Maria Menounos, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2023. Prior to her pancreatic cancer diagnosis, Menounos had been diagnosed with a benign meningioma (brain tumor) in 2017, which she underwent an eight-hour long surgery to remove.

Menounos is best known for her prior work as the host of E!News, as well as a television correspondent for Access Hollywood. Since 2013, she has also been an ambassador of WWE, where she also competed in multiple pro wrestling events.

In 2023, Menounos was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, specifically a stage 2 pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor. She shared that she experienced symptoms of her cancer early on, such as “feeling pain in my upper left abdomen” and “a lot of bloating”.

“I had an endoscopy and a colonoscopy, but my doctors couldn’t find the answer. The pain got progressively worse—sometimes it was so bad that I would buckle over in extreme pain. I later got a CT scan, but the doctors still couldn’t pinpoint the problem. Then, by chance, I met someone who told me I should get a full body scan. They discovered a large mass on my pancreas and sent me directly to the hospital,” Menounos recalled.

She added that her reaction to her diagnosis was “complete shock and terror”. Fortunately, after a 10-hour surgery to remove part of her pancreas, her spleen, 17 lymph nodes, and a massive fibroid, Menounos was declared cancer-free.

Since her cancer diagnosis, Menounos had been actively advocating for early screening and raising awareness on cancer. She had been using her podcast, Heal Squad, to raise awareness on the disease. Heal Squad was started in 2017, and served as a platform for Menounos to process and share her own extensive personal health battles, as well as to help others navigate their own wellness journeys.

Additionally, Menounos also partnered with Exact Sciences/Abbott in 2025, to promote a groundbreaking new blood test, Cancerguard. Cancerguard is a blood test designed to detect more than 50 cancer types and subtypes, including pancreatic, ovarian, and liver cancers.

“If it wasn't for outside screening I wouldn't be here today,” she shared. “About 70% of cancer cases and deaths in the US alone come from cancers that have no routine screening. So you could be going to the doctor and think you're doing all the right things, but they're only testing for a few routine cancers. But some of the deadliest cancers, like what I had, pancreatic cancer, don't have any routine screening. And they also don't come with symptoms generally, so you don't find out until it's almost too late, or generally when it's too late. So if it can happen to me, it can happen to you. We've got to be the CEO of our own health journeys and really make sure that we are thinking about everything.”