Jenna Fischer Says Christina Applegate, ‘Office’ Co-Star Angela Kinsey Helped Her Through Cancer Battle
Jenna Fischer spoke about her decision to keep doing the Office Ladies podcast while keeping her breast cancer diagnosis private, as well as the advice she got from fellow survivor Christina Applegate, in a new interview on Today.
The conversation with Hoda Kotb (also a breast cancer survivor) marks Fischer’s first major chat since revealing she was diagnosed with Stage 1 Triple Positive Breast Cancer earlier this month. While Fischer is now cancer-free, last year The Office star underwent a lumpectomy to remove the tumor, followed by chemotherapy and radiation.
Even amidst all that, Fischer kept up with her Office recap podcast with friend/co-star Angela Kinsey. “From the beginning, [Kinsey] said, ‘Whatever you need, you tell me. I’m here’,” Fischer recalled. “And I said, I want to keep working and I don’t want anyone to know at work. At work, I want that to be a space where we go, and we laugh, and I’m not a cancer patient. I need that.”
Not only did Kinsey agree, she found other ways to support and help Fischer. When Fischer began losing her hair during chemo, she would wear hats with wigs attached to them. Kinsey, Fischer said, “started wearing hats to work, so that I wouldn’t be the only person in a work meeting wearing a hat.”
Fischer also spoke about another key figure in her support system, Applegate, who helped connect Fischer with other survivors. Recalling the first conversation she had with Applegate about her diagnosis, Fischer said, “I called her, and she answered the phone, and she said, ‘Which one is it?’ And I said, ‘It’s breast cancer.’ And she said, ‘I effing knew it.’ She’s salty. Salty language that one. I love her for it.”
Elsewhere, Fischer spoke about her grueling chemo treatments, the difficulty of losing her hair, and learning to embrace her new short cut. Having come through treatment cancer-free, Fischer also shared how the experience has shifted her outlook on life.
“I find the world to be such a beautiful place in all of its quirkiness,” Fischer said. “Even things that used to irritate me, now I sometimes find charming. Like, you know, just traffic. Like, ‘Oh, look at you cute traffic! Look at all the people just going places. Oh, that guy’s mad!’”