Maria Menounos is speaking out about being diagnosed with a brain tumor and revealing why she actually laughed when she was given the shocking news by a doctor.
Menounos bravely revealed that she had been diagnosed with a brain tumor back in February in a new interview with People , and she told the outlet she had a pretty uncommon response to hearing the devastating health news.
“I didn’t cry. I actually laughed,” Maria said of what she did when she was told by the doctor earlier this year, admitting that her strange reaction came because her mom is also battling stage four brain cancer at the same time.
“It’s so surreal and crazy and unbelievable that my mom has a brain tumor – and now I have one too?” the former Access Hollywood host said in the candid new interview.
Maria revealed she had an MRI scan after feeling dizzy and light-headed last February and found that her speech was also becoming increasingly slurred.
That’s when the former Dancing With the Stars contestant was told by doctors that she had “a golf-ball-size meningioma brain tumor that was pushing on her facial nerves” and needed to be treated through surgery as soon as possible.
Fortunately, Menounos confirmed that she has since visited a world-renowned neurosurgeon who was able to surgically remove 99.9 percent of the tumor, though she told the site that there’s still a six to seven percent chance that it could return in the future.
Revealing how she’s now doing after six days after the surgery, Maria said that her face still feels numb and that it could take up to a month for her to feel 100 percent and healthy again but confirmed that she’s been spending more time with her mom as she continues to recover and is feeling stronger day by day.
This is the first time Maria has spoken out about her tumor, and the devastating news comes around a year after Menounos and director and producer Keven Undergaro got engaged live on Howard Stern’s radio show back in March 2016 after dating for the past 19 years.
Maria hasn’t revealed when she and Keven plan on tying the knot, though Menounos did tell People that Undergaro has been a rock for her since getting her diagnosis earlier this year and confirmed that he’s been standing by her side during both her and her mother’s health crises.
Menounos shared a sweet photo of herself and fellow WWE star Brie Bella to her Instagram page back in March, which showed the two engaged divas showing off their engagement rings, though it’s not clear when the host plans to walk down the aisle and get married to her boyfriend of two decades.
Leave your messages for Maria Menounos and her mother amid their health issues below.
[Featured Image by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for DIRECTV]