Kelly Rowland paid tribute to Ananda Lewis after the MTV trailblazer passed away at 52 following her breast cancer battle.
The former MTV VJ died this week following a seven-year battle with cancer and had shared a heartbreaking final post before her sister announced her passing.
The 44-year-old singer rose to fame alongside her band members Beyoncé and Michelle Williams in the late 1990s and often crossed paths with Lewis on MTV.
In a tribute dedicated to Lewis, the Destiny’s Child icon shared that she has ‘the most amazing memories’ of the time they spent together.
Rowland recalled how she and the late MTV star were once at a Sade concert and had fun ‘belting’ out songs together until both of their throats felt ‘hoarse.’
Alongside a portrait of the late star, she wrote: ‘Interviews, yeah! But my fav is us singing together at a SADE concert, at THE TOP of our lungs! We both left hoarse, but did not care!’
Kelly Rowland paid tribute to Ananda Lewis after the MTV trailblazer passed away at 52 following her breast cancer battle; pictured December 2024 in Los Angeles
The former MTV VJ died this week following a seven-year battle with cancer and had shared a heartbreaking final post before her sister announced her passing; pictured March 2019
She gushed about the late journalist and shared her ‘love and prayers’ to Lewis’ family and friends.
‘Her spirit, SOUL, her [heart]… she was just an ALL around cool, beautiful, FLY woman! I am at a loss for words! BUT SENDING her LOVED ONES, my love and prayers!’
Lewis had previously interviewed Destiny’s Child nearly two decades ago, and the rising stars had crossed paths multiple times in Hollywood.
On Wednesday, July 11, Lewis passed away after her seven-year battle with cancer.
She had also recently shared her past regrets as she warned fans to focus on their health in one of her final Instagram posts.
The former MTV VJ’s death was announced by her sister Lakshmi Emory via a Facebook post.
She shared a black and white portrait of Lewis with the caption: ‘She’s free, and in His heavenly arms. Lord, rest her soul.’
In a post to her Instagram page in February Lewis told her followers that she had some regrets about her diagnosis and that she wished she had done things differently.
The 44-year-old singer rose to fame alongside her band members Beyoncé and Michelle Williams in the late 1990s and often crossed paths with Lewis on MTV
In a tribute dedicated to Lewis, the Destiny’s Child icon shared that she has ‘the most amazing memories’ of the time they spent together
Lewis had previously interviewed Destiny’s Child nearly two decades ago
On Wednesday, July 11, Lewis passed away after her seven-year battle with cancer. The former MTV VJ’s death was announced by her sister Lakshmi Emory via a Facebook post; pictured September 2005 in West Hollywood
Lewis had previously said she had refused a double mastectomy.
She said: ‘Is that body you’re in right now healthy? I mean like relatively, no big diseases. If so, consider it like a winning lotto ticket.’
‘I know I don’t talk a lot about what I go through on a day-to-day basis wrestling the big C monster.
‘Part of it is because I refuse to give it anymore energy than it’s already taking from my life.
‘It doesn’t matter how bad things are in my body right now. What does matter is keep you out of this club. ‘
There are things I wish I did differently like 10 years ago to prevent cancer and I am talking about them.’
In a post to her Instagram page in February Lewis told her followers that she had some regrets about her diagnosis and she wished she had things done differently
As a fixture on MTV in the late 1990s, Ananda hosted hit shows like Total Request Live, Hot Zone and Spring Break
She then mentioned a story she did with Essence magazine in which she further delved into her cancer battle.
Lewis added: ‘You can avoid this, only five to ten percent of cancers have anything to do with genetics.
‘That leaves 90 percent that are environmentally or lifestyle influences, and some of those are things you can control.
‘Prevention is the cure, because preserving your health is way easier than fighting to get it back.’
As a fixture on MTV in the late 1990s, Ananda hosted hit shows like Total Request Live, Hot Zone and Spring Break.
Lewis nabbed her very own daytime TV talk show, The Ananda Lewis Show, in 2001, which ran for one season.
She earned two NAACP Image Awards during her career and was once deemed the ‘the hip-hop generation’s reigning It Girl’ by The New York Times.
Lakshmi told TMZ that her sister died at her home in Los Angeles at 11:35am on Wednesday, June 11. She was in hospice care at the time of her death.
Lewis nabbed her very own daytime TV talk show, The Ananda Lewis Show, in 2001, which ran for one season. She is pictured with Justin Timberlake, Chris Kirkpatrick and JC Chasez of NSYNC in 2000
Lakshmi said that a memorial would be held ‘in a few weeks’ and that celebrities who Ananda previously interviewed have already expressed interest in paying tribute to her at the upcoming service.
In October 2020 Ananda shocked fans when she announced on social media that she’d been privately battling stage III breast cancer.
‘I have been fighting to get cancer out of my body for almost two years,’ she shared in the six-minute video posted to Instagram.
She also admitted that she’d avoided getting regular mammograms due to fear of radiation exposure.
‘I have refused mammograms… that was a mistake. I watched my mom get mammogrammed for 30 years almost and at the end of that she had breast cancer,’ she explained.
Four years after her announcement, Ananda confirmed that her breast cancer had metastasized and advanced to stage IV.
She spoke about deciding not to undergo a double mastectomy in an October 2024 interview with CNN.
Lewis explained that she had originally planned to ‘keep my tumor and try to work it out of my body a different way.’
Lewis’ death was confirmed by her sister Lakshmi Emory in a Facebook post
She spoke about deciding not to undergo a double mastectomy in an October 2024 interview with CNN. She is seen here in 2007
But when her tumor eventually metastasized, Ananda realized that she probably ‘should have’ gone through with the life-saving surgery.
Days after her CNN interview, Lewis clarified her comments about refusing a double mastectomy.
She said: ‘My quality of life was very important to me, like there’s a certain things I know I’m not gonna be okay with and I know myself. I want to want to be here, so I had to do it a certain way, for me.’
Lewis’s last Instagram post was made on March 7 as she paid tribute to the legendary R&B hitmaker Roberta Flack, who died on February 24 of Roberta Flack at age 88.
She wrote: ‘Rest in Power [heart emoji] Thank you for shining your light so bright as Roberta Flack and leaving a musical legacy that will bless us forever’
Lewis was born in Los Angeles in March 21, 1973 but her parents’ divorce when she was just two-years-old led to her being raised by her mother and grandmother in San Diego, California along with her sister Lakshmi.
She attended an arts high school before studying at historic Howard University in Washington, DC. She graduated from in 1995.
Lewis first garnered TV fame as a host of BET’s youth talk-show Teen Summit in Washington D.C., where she famously interviewed then-First Lady Hillary Clinton.
Ananda quickly became a fan-favorite fixture on MTV and interviewed many of the major stars of the late 90s and early 2000s, including Britney Spears and Beyonce.
In 2001, the star took a major career leap as she left MTV to become the host of her very own daytime talk show.
The Ananda Lewis Show premiered in 2001 but was short-lived as it went off the air after one season.
She served as a correspondent for The Insider from 2004 to 2005. Lewis then became a carpenter and hosted the 2019 revival of While You Were Out on TLC.
