Amanda Peet Reveals Breast Cancer Diagnosis & Parents’ Hospice Care in New Essay

Actress Amanda Peet revealed her recent breast cancer diagnosis in a personal essay published in The New Yorker, detailing the experience as it unfolded alongside her parents’ simultaneous battles with illness.

Peet, known for roles in films like Something’s Gotta Give and television series such as The Chair, had been undergoing routine biannual checkups with a breast surgeon. Prior to Labor Day of last year, a scan prompted concern. According to Peet’s account, her doctor, identified as Dr. K., remained unusually silent during the examination and subsequently recommended a biopsy.

“Dr. K. Usually chatted me up even as she examined me, but this time she went silent,” Peet wrote. “She told me that she didn’t like the way something looked on the ultrasound and wanted to perform a biopsy. After the procedure, she said that she would walk the sample over to Cedars-Sinai and hand-deliver it to Pathology. That’s when I knew.”

Initial findings indicated a small tumor, leading to a request for an MRI to determine the cancer’s receptor status. Peet explained that this status helps determine the aggressiveness of the cancer, comparing different strains to “poodles” and “pit bulls.”

The results, delivered via text message by Dr. K. At 4:42 P.M., brought unexpected relief. “All poodle features!” the message read, indicating that Peet was hormone-receptor-positive and HER2-negative – characteristics associated with a more favorable prognosis. Peet described a surge of happiness, exceeding even her baseline emotional state before the diagnosis, though tempered by the realization that further testing was still required.

A subsequent MRI revealed a second mass in the same breast, delaying a planned lumpectomy and necessitating an MRI-guided biopsy. Peet described the biopsy procedure as “excruciating,” involving a precise, coordinate-based approach to target the area for needle insertion. She recounted the process as a “perverse game of Battleship,” with her husband, David Benioff, co-creator of Game of Thrones, assisting in ensuring proper breast positioning.

Fortunately, the second mass proved to be benign. This outcome meant that Peet’s treatment plan would consist of a lumpectomy and radiation therapy, rather than more extensive interventions like a double mastectomy or chemotherapy. Peet’s cancer was diagnosed as Stage I.

Peet detailed the experience of radiation treatment, noting it was manageable until the final stages, when her nipple became blistered and charred, likened to an “over-roasted marshmallow.”

The essay concludes with Peet recounting a clear scan received earlier this year, followed shortly after by the death of her father. She then describes being present during her mother’s final days, reflecting on a sense of unspoken communion and the culmination of a period marked by profound loss and personal health challenges.