Fashion icon Jeanne Beker on a mission to beat breast cancer

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In the spring of 2022, Canadian media personality and fashion icon Jeanne Beker was diagnosed with breast cancer.

She now spends many months of the year involved in philanthropic initiatives around breast cancer, and is especially keen on alerting women to the need to go for mammograms, and to know their breast density and how that affects how often they should go for screening.

In 1979, Toronto-born Beker shot to fame launching Citytv’s hugely popular The New Music. The daughter of Holocaust survivors, Beker became a fashion legend as the host of Fashion Television from 1985 to 2012, interviewing every person of significance in the fashion world from Anna Wintour to the late Alexander McQueen, reporting on fashion shows from Milan to New York.

October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Beker is involved in several events that raise money for breast-cancer research or supports for those diagnosed with the disease. But she is also involved in charitable initiatives – including her existing philanthropic work for other causes – throughout the year.

Beker has shared about her diagnosis, chemotherapy, and cancer journey, determined to make “people feel better about going through this journey of life.”

How are you focused on raising awareness about this disease during Breast Cancer Awareness Month?

“I’m feeling like I’m on a mission these days to raise awareness, whether it’s October or November or September – really, the month is of no consequence to me. But obviously, some things have presented themselves this month.

Already this month I did a wonderful [fundraising] luncheon [Guardian Angel Benefit] presented by CancerCare Manitoba, where I was a keynote speaker. And then we got to strut in a fabulous fashion show that featured cancer survivors or people living with cancer. So that was very meaningful for me.

Can you tell us about the Oct. 21 gala you are to be honoured at?

“I’m doing a big fundraiser that I’m going to be honored at, called the One Life gala, which is a luxury gala benefitting cancer [research] that the Princess Margaret [Cancer Foundation] is holding on the 21st of October [at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto].

Then, on the 23rd of October, there’s going to be a big dinner [Breast Friends Conquer All at the Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto] that a couple of my oncological doctors are going to be benefiting from for their research. They’re all brilliant; they’re fabulous.”

How are you continuing to raise awareness about breast screening and early prevention after this month?

“I’ve got so much going on.

[On Nov. 14] I’ll be at a luncheon that’s being presented by [Northern Cancer Foundation] in Sudbury [a fundraiser called Luncheon of Hope].

I was a keynote speaker a couple of weeks ago in Georgian Bay for the Georgian Bay General Hospital – they’re looking to buy an MRI machine. So, I talked about my cancer journey and how now especially women with dense breasts are required to not only get a mammogram, but also additional screening in the form of an ultrasound.

“I’ve walked in a fashion show that the Royal York put on in conjunction with [the Canadian Arts and Fashion Awards in September] and I donated the honorarium I was paid to the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre.

And earlier this spring, I did a campaign with [Montreal-based lingerie retailer] La Vie en Rose, with my dear friend, Quebec journalist and fellow breast cancer survivor Lolitta Dandoy. It was called the Be Your Own Breast Friend fundraising campaign. We were encouraging women to donate their old bras and for every old bra that was donated, a dollar was donated to breast cancer. That raised hundreds of thousands of dollars.

All these great initiatives are just incredible.”

Is breast density something some women might not know about?

“They will now, because everyone that gets a mammogram [should be informed of] what breast density level they have, whether it’s an A, B, C or D.

If you have C or D, you must get additional screenings. So that’s the big new thing now and I just think it’s wonderful that women are being made aware of that.

I’ve been working with Dense Breasts Canada as well the past couple of months, trying to raise awareness in that arena. I did a video for them, and I take any chance I get to talk to women about that. It’s absolutely necessary.”

You’ve also been working with the Canadian Cancer Society.

“The Canadian Cancer Society has been doing so much, and I have recently gotten involved in the Cashmere Collection. That’s where designers make those incredible couture fantasy creations out of bathroom tissue. They’ve donated so much money over the past 20 years to the breast cancer cause.

I’m also being featured in the [Cashmere Presents Lovestruck], the video [about the fundraiser] that is being streamed on Crave, that Bell Media [and Kruger] produced. I’m talking a little bit about my breast cancer journey in that video, as well.

Any opportunity I get. I mean, I just think of it – it’s become such a part me now.

And I’m so, so proud, really, to be able to say I’m a survivor. Even if, God forbid, things weren’t working in my favor, I am proud as a member of the human race that I can share my story. Sharing our stories is just about the most valuable thing we can do for one another.”

How are you feeling right now?

“I’m feeling great. I started on a drug called letrozole, which is an estrogen suppressant. It’s not an easy drug to be on. It has a lot of side effects, and some people maybe feel rough through it.

For me, I’ve been getting side effects.

I’ve been on it since February, and it causes a lot of body aches and pains. And it affects your mood – makes you feel a little down in the dumps. I’m pushing through it.

There are so many great, great drugs out there, and some of them, of course, are very powerful. I have to just keep thinking that, at the end of the day, it’s to keep the cancer at bay. I mean, the cancer is out of my body now.”

Some women are afraid to even think of the screening process. How do you address that fear?

“I think it’s such a naive way to view your life. I mean, here is the chance to be saved from something that may be hampering your health. Wow.

Early diagnosis is absolutely key. If there’s fear, all I can say is ‘Get over it,’ because fear doesn’t get you anywhere. Fear is a waste of the imagination. You’ve got to stay in the light, be grateful, thankful that these tests are available, and hopefully, in many cases, save lives.

My oncologist said that because we caught the type of cancer I had so early, my cancer was not only treatable, but it was also curable.”

I think it’s not even so much that you’re afraid to go into the hospital; you’re afraid that you might actually have something that people are afraid of. I just chose to see my journey as an opportunity disguised as an inconvenience.

Without question, it’s been an incredible opportunity. It’s opened a lot of doors for me, and it’s made me a bigger, better, stronger, wiser, braver person. It has connected me with other women in a most incredible way. I’m part of a special sisterhood now.”

Your charitable work predates your cancer diagnosis. What other initiatives do you support?

“On November 20th I’ll be hosting [the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research’s] Harmonizing Hearts, a big fundraising [musical] event at Roy Thompson Hall [in Toronto]. I spent many years working as an honorary chair towards awareness of AIDS.

Fashion Cares [an annual event raising awareness and funds for HIV and AIDS] is a great legendary event that we hosted in Toronto for about 25 years.

I’ve been on the honorary board of Gilda’s Club [which supports people with a cancer diagnosis] for many years.

I’m an honorary board member of Women’s Brain Health Initiative [combatting brain-aging diseases disproportionately affecting women].

I’ll also be hosting Porridge for Parkinson’s [Nov. 12 at the Evergreen Brick Works in Toronto] – an event to raise funds for Parkinson’s research, a disease that affected my late mother.

So many of these causes are important to me. I feel so privileged and so blessed that I’ve been able to create a platform for myself – that I’ve been able to create a brand that has a voice. How wonderful to be able to give back.

Community is everything to me. And if I can play any part in raising awareness, raising funds, and just making people feel better about going through this journey of life, I’m there for it.”

Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.

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