“How I Met Your Mother” Star Cobie Smulders Reveals Secret Battle with Ovarian Cancer
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Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage(NEW YORK) — How I Met Your Mother star Cobie Smulders reveals in a new interview that she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer during the show’s third season, when she was 25 years old.
In the May edition of Women’s Health magazine, the actress, now 33, reveals, “I had tumors on both ovaries, and the cancer had spread into my lymph nodes and surrounding tissues.”
Smulders says it took multiple surgeries over the course of two years to remove the cancerous tissue, all while still shooting the popular TV series.
“I don’t think I’ll ever feel like I’m cancer-free,” she tells the magazine. “Now that I’m five years out, I’m trying to think of it as a positive thing and what can I learn from it. And if I can create more awareness, I’ll do it.”
Medical experts say ovarian cancer killed about 14,000 women in 2014.
In the time since her diagnosis, Smulders has given birth to two children with husband, Saturday Night Live cast member Taran Killam. They have a five-year-old daughter and a son, born in January.
Smulders portrayed newscaster Robin Scherbatsky on How I Met Your Mother, which ended its run last May.
Smulders will next be seen reprising her role as Agent Maria Hill in The Avengers: Age of Ultron, opening nationwide May 1.
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