When Lisa Ray told Kareena Kapoor that she hid cancer relapse from her husband

Lisa Ray, who turns 49, had revealed last year that she hid her cancer relapse from her husband because it was soon after she got married.

Actor Lisa Ray turns 49 on Sunday and she is known for her resilient fighting spirit. Having been diagnosed with a type of cancer which was then considered incurable, Lisa has come a long way, inspiring people facing similar struggles. However, the journey has not been a smooth sail.

Lisa Ray turns 49 on Sunday.

She first learnt about her diagnosis in June 2009, Lisa battled multiple myeloma, a rare type of cancer of the bone marrow.

Soon after her wedding with Jason Dehni in 2012, her cancer relapsed and she even tried to hide it from him for some time. Remembering the tim, Lisa had said last year, “I relapsed once. This is something that I have not spoken about extensively. It happened just a month after getting married. That was a really difficult time. I was actually hiding that secret from my husband. I thought I just have to get through the shaadi and then I will figure out what to do. So, that was a real low, because the first time I was dealing with cancer, I was single. (It was) very harrowing to see the effect of such news on loved ones."

Lisa was speaking with Kareena Kapoor Khan on her radio show, What Women Want in August 2020. Lisa said that the second round of cancer was “very difficult” for her. “I had this beautiful man who had just become my husband and consented to getting married to this woman with this fatal disease, and the first piece of news that I had to share with him was, ‘Baby, thanks for marrying me. By the way, I probably have to go back on treatment.’ That was very difficult but at the same time, I took that as a signal that there was some piece of the puzzle that was missing in terms of the healing journey. So right after that, I started incorporating a lot of nutrition and holistic healing. Ironically, within three months of changing my diet radically, I was in remission,” she said.

Earlier, talking about her diagnosis, she had written in her blog in 2009, "I didn’t react and I didn’t cry. That’s how I felt after the diagnosis. Ok, I’ve got The Cancer. The tough part is over. Myeloma is incurable…I believe it can be cured…That’s the Dirty Realist in me…I’m aiming for Full Remission…I am humbled and inspired.” After opening up about her cancer at a film festival in 2009, Lisa documented her successful battle with cancer in her memoir Close To The Bone, which came out in 2019.

On the eve of her birthday, Saturday evening, Lisa posted a fresh picture of herself and wrote in a long note, "There is a reason why those who seem to have have endured the most can be kindest, why those who have lost many things find more and more of themselves....You learn the art of breathing through impermanent pain and you begin to understand others who are feeling the same...’ Paraphrased from the transcendent prose of @yrsadaleyward and my wish for you, on the cusp of my 49th year, is to learn the art of breathing through the impermanence of...everything."