Elle Macpherson has confessed that the controversial decision to treat her breast cancer holistically was the death knell for her four-year marriage to billionaire real estate mogul Jeffrey Soffer.
In her newly released memoir, titled elle: Life, Lessons, and Learning to Trust Yourself, she acknowledges that the choice to refuse a mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiation went against not just the advice of 32 doctors, but also the feelings of family and friends – especially her husband.
‘My diagnosis of breast cancer, followed by my final choice of Dr C’s holistic approach to recovery… was not one that Jeff could trust or feel at ease about,’ she writes.
‘And really this process was the straw that broke the camel’s back… it opened up the floodgates and everything changed. Our marriage was over and we both knew it.’
She also admits that she didn’t even tell her closest Australian relatives about her plans, fearing their disapproval.
‘I didn’t tell my family in Oz, not even my parents,’ she writes. ‘I didn’t want to put them in a situation where they were worrying from afar and I knew that my choices were different from what they may have imagined was good for me.
‘The hardest part was making the decision on how to heal,’ she adds. ‘The saddest part was the lack of understanding from people close to me.’
Macpherson, 60, was diagnosed with HER2 positive estrogen receptive intraductal carcinoma – a type of breast cancer – in 2017.
Macpherson was diagnosed in 2017, and admits she didn’t even tell her closest Australian relatives about her plans, fearing their disapproval
Her choice to take a holistic approach to her cancer ‘was not one that Jeff could trust or feel at ease about,’ she writes
Doctors advised her to undergo a mastectomy with radiation, chemotherapy, hormone therapy and the reconstruction of her breast.
She admits that her ‘thoughts were leaning towards the conventional pharmaceutical route’ but, after consulting 32 doctors, she opted to work with ‘Dr C in Dallas’ who specialized in alternative treatments.
He advised her to ‘go to the beach, pray and meditate’ before she finally decided what to do.
‘So I went to the beach, meditated and prayed. I called him and told him that I’d decided to have a mastectomy, probably a double, and was going to wear a pink wig when I lost my hair. I’d also decided to film the whole journey and tell women that they can be brave just like me. I wanted to inspire and encourage other women in similar situations.’
Dr C’s response was to ‘go back to the beach.’
While she was walking on the sand for a second time, she says she had a revelation about how to make her decision.
‘I chose an holistic approach,’ she says. ‘Saying no to standard medical solutions was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. But saying no to my own inner sense would have been even harder.
‘People thought I was crazy but I knew I had to make a choice that truly resonated with me. To me, that meant addressing emotional as well as physical factors associated with breast cancer. It was time for deep inner reflection. And that took courage.’
‘People thought I was crazy but I knew I had to make a choice that truly resonated with me,’ she says
Macpherson with her two sons Cy and Flynn, to financier Arpad Busson
Her doctor advised her to ‘go to the beach, pray and meditate’ before she finally decided what to do
Macpherson, who has been sober for 21 years, was widely criticized at the time, with medics branding her ‘reckless’ and ‘shockingly irresponsible’, while others said she was promoting ‘dangerous’ therapies that could ‘cost women their lives’.
She jetted off to a house in Phoenix, Arizona in February 2017 for seven months where she underwent a strict wellness-based treatment that focused on juice cleanses, herbal and homeopathic medicine, and herbs.
And, because she believes ‘healing is 25% physical, the rest is spiritual and emotional’ her treatment also included ‘emotional trauma resolution modalities’ with a ‘Dr R’.
‘We worked through releasing past resentments and illusions, delusions and despair,’ she writes. ‘I shared things with him that I’ve never shared with anyone else, courageously willing to let it all go once and for all.’
In fact, she now says she believes she ‘manifested’ her own cancer through ‘unresolved conflicts’.
‘I was not going to leave any stone unturned,’ she says. ‘Relentless in clearing out the baggage of my past, I was determined to get to the root cause of having manifested cancer.
‘The mind, emotions, body and spirit are not separate… If I had been unconsciously thinking they were, this may have been a considerable cause for the disease expressed within my body.’
She adds: ‘I knew it would be unwise to try to solve a largely emotional or spiritual problem in a purely physical way.
Her strict wellness-based treatment focused on juice cleanses, herbal and homeopathic medicine, and herbs
‘I am grateful for my incredible body and my breasts for letting me know that I had unresolved conflicts within me that needed healing’
Macpherson was dubbed ‘The Body’ in her modelling heyday, and she appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Issue five times – more than any other model
Macpherson believes she ‘manifested’ her cancer through ‘unresolved conflicts within me that needed healing’
‘After years of never really appreciating my body, I am grateful for my incredible body and my breasts for letting me know that I had unresolved conflicts within me that needed healing.’
This process, she writes, led to the discovery of ‘the toxins I’d never been aware of before in beliefs, thoughts, attitudes, emotions, actions and reactions, relationships, food, environment, habits and circumstances.’
Now in remission, she’s convinced the decision, though it was the nail in the coffin of her marriage, saved her life.
Soon after her return from Arizona, she and Jeffrey were divorced. He was later connected to Gisele Bündchen after her 2023 divorce from Tom Brady.
Elle writes: ‘Cancer is not an option for me any more. Like drinking is not an option for me. It’s not something that I will ever do because I don’t need to. And I don’t need another bout of cancer to learn my lessons. I have learned them.’
elle: Life, Lessons, and Learning to Trust Yourself by Elle Macpherson is published by BenBella Books
