Baywatch star Nicole Eggert diagnosed with breast cancer

Actresses Nicole Eggert and Pamela Anderson, stars of the TV series Baywatch, in 1992. Photo / Getty Images

Nicole Eggert has heartbreakingly revealed she has been diagnosed with breast cancer.

The 51-year-old actress - who starred as Summer Quinn on Baywatch in the 1990s - initially believed she was going through menopause after experiencing “terrible” pain in her left breast and gaining 11kg in three months. However, after a self exam, she found a lump.

“It really was throbbing and hurting,” Eggert told People magazine, adding: “I immediately went to my general practitioner, and she told me I had to immediately go get it looked at. But the problem was I just couldn’t get an appointment. Everything was booked. So I had to wait until the end of November to get it done.”

After undergoing multiple tests, the actress was then diagnosed with stage 2 cribriform carcinoma in December 2023 but while a mammogram and three biopsies have determined her cancer diagnosis, she is currently waiting to find out whether the disease has spread to other parts of her body.

Nicole Eggert starred with Pamela Anderson in the TV series Baywatch. Photo / Getty Images

Eggert - who has daughters Dilyn, 25, and 12-year-old Keegan - reportedly requires surgery, with her oncologist yet to determine when she will begin chemotherapy and radiation.

“This journey’s been rough for me. This hasn’t been a breezy sail through life,” she told the news outlet. “I always read inspirational quotes and corny stuff, but it gets me through.”

Despite her positive sentiments, she revealed her battle to date has been difficult mentally: “I can definitely feel it. It’s there. It needs to be taken out. So it’s just a matter of do I have to do treatment before the surgery or can they perform the surgery and then I do the treatment after.

“I have panics where I’m like, just get this out of me, You sit there and it’s in you and you’re like, every second that passes and it’s inside of me. It’s growing, and you’re just like, you just want it out.”

The former Charles in Charge star - whose father battled skin cancer and mother battled colon cancer, continued to say she is determined to fight the disease for the sake of her children, especially her youngest after seeing “the horror” on Keegan’s face when she told her about her diagnosis.

“[Dilyn’s] an adult, but I have a 12-year-old at home, where I’m the only caregiver. I have no family. I have nothing. It immediately made me realise, there’s just no succumbing to this. This is something I have to get through. This is something that I have to beat. She needs me more than anything and anybody.”