> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.tawnymagazine.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Nicole Eggert on Breast Cancer, Life After Baywatch, and Finding Strength in Sisterhood - URL: https://www.tawnymagazine.com/nicole-eggert-on-breast-cancer-life-after-baywatch-and-finding-strength-in-sisterhood/ - Published: 2026-10-14T16:54:15.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-14T17:41:07.000Z - Description: From Baywatch to breast cancer advocacy, Nicole Eggert opens up about her health journey, leaving Hollywood's biggest show, embracing her body, and the power of women supporting women in this exclusive Tawny Talks interview. - Author: Gerry Strauss - Tags: Interviews, Tawny Talks, Celebrity Interview, Nicole Eggert, Women's Health, Breast Cancer Awareness, All Features Nicole Eggert x Tawny 0:00 /1192.029002 1× **Tawny Talks: Nicole Eggert** From *Charles in Charge* to *Baywatch*, Nicole Eggert has been a familiar face on our television screens for decades. These days, she's inspiring fans in a whole new way, sharing her breast cancer journey with honesty, positivity and a determination to help others facing similar challenges. With October marking Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we couldn't think of a better time to catch up with Nicole to chat about everything from self-detection to the 80’s music that moved her. In this special Tawny Talks conversation, she opens up about her health, the surprising ways her experiences have changed her outlook on life, why she left the #1 TV show on the planet, and the power of women lifting each other up. In Conversation With Nicole Eggert Interview conducted by Gerry Strauss **Tawny:** Hello again, everyone, and welcome to Tawny Talks. I'm Gerry Strauss, and we here at Tawny Magazine are once again bringing you a conversation with one of our favorite people on the planet, somebody that we can be inspired by, somebody that we can learn from, and someone that we can love, because we've been watching and loving her really for her whole darn life. We’re so happy to talk to her today. Nicole Eggert is here. How are you? **Nicole:** Hi. I'm fantastic, thank you. Such kind words. I appreciate that. **Tawny:** Oh, we're just so excited to talk to you. We're so happy. And I wanna ask you right off the bat because you have been, throughout your life and throughout your career, so open about various parts of your journey, especially over the last several years as you have so capably and bravely overcome so many challenges… certainly, the health mountains that you have climbed and gotten to the other side of. How does it feel at this point to be able to share good news as you have shared the challenges that you've had, and do it all with such a brave face? Because I think a lot of u, would've just hid underground for a lot of this time and wanted to shield ourselves from the world. But you've done such the opposite, and it's been so helpful to so many people. **Nicole:** Thank you for that. I feel like, there came a point where it was either you stay very private or you go public with it. And I knew that staying private would mean a lot of work. Paparazzi are going to get you. Pictures would pop up of me out running errands or whatever. But now, all of a sudden, I'm going to be in the middle of treatment running these errands, and questions are going to be raised, right? And I felt like working to keep it a secret was just such an extra burden that I really didn't need, and I also felt like trying to keep secrets makes you sick. And so for me, it was, “I'm going to be public about this”. The extent of how public, it really kind of just grew as I went along because I soon realized that I was helping other people and other people were helping me, and it was this big hug of a community. And it's very important for the give and take of it all, and all the specific different journeys that we all have and go on. > "The more we share it, the more we can normalize it, the more we can bring comfort to somebody else that's going through it." Because at the end of the day, the only person that really knows what it feels like is other people going through it. Family can be so close to you and by your side through the whole thing, but they'll never understand. They'll never understand like another cancer patient. That’s the way it is, so it's just very important, I felt, to be transparent and to share what I was learning and to open myself up to other people who would share what they knew and their wealth of knowledge, and I found it all very helpful and healing. **Tawny:** Yeah. And as we record this, of course, we are on the precipice of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. As you may be listening to this, we may be in the middle of it, we may be in the middle of it in a year, two years. Hopefully, you're coming back to this interview and checking it out for inspiration from Nicole. But I have to ask now, you talk about people coming together who understand each other's trials and tribulations, and Breast Cancer Awareness Month is such a beacon for that and you have become such a part of that, not only with just who you are and how public you've been about your journey, but all the work you're doing. Why don't you talk a little bit about how your involvement in this community event every year continues to grow and impact yourself and others? **Nicole:** Well, as much as I feel like I'm beating a dead horse when I say, "Get tested. Don't forget to do your self exams. Don't forget to be screened. Don't forget to do all these things," I quickly realize that although I felt like I have said it 50 million times, it's always falling on new ears, and it's always a reminder to somebody or it's an introduction to somebody who is now becoming of that age where this is a concern. It’s the constant reminder of getting screened and early detection, because early detection is so key, and it is really what we want. It's better to receive bad news as soon as possible than to prolong it and put it off and have to deal with what's happening when it's progressed. It's very important to just to continue to get that word out. For me, I was living with dense breast tissue, which is a category on its own. So I work closely with a company called HerScan where we are really emphasizing how important it is to do your mammograms, but for me, when you have dense breast tissue, the mammogram very often misses the cancer, so bringing awareness to alternative screenings is so important. HerScan is a company that is mobile and they travel from town to town, city to city, and you can find one in a city near you, and it's a much easier process than a mammogram, much more comfortable. I'm on the council of trustees for a foundation called Mission Plasticos, which is one of the most beautiful foundations, I've ever come across, and I work very closely with them. They provide life-changing plastic surgeries worldwide for underprivileged areas, and they go in and train the doctors to continue to do those procedures. In the United States alone, we do breast reconstruction for breast cancer survivors who have gone through mastectomy because it is so needed, and it is the misconception that that's just part of the process. And so many of us are just left at the end of treatment and the end of mastectomy, and we're sort of just left there. And unless you have the funds to pay for a reconstruction, it's kind of the end of the road for you. We provide it free of charge in the United States, and it's just a beautiful sisterhood and it's just really amazing. And if anybody needs that work done, it's missionplasticos.org. It’s no questions asked. You apply, and we set you up, and it's with a private doctor. It’s as if you had paid for it out of pocket. You get the exact same first-class treatment. It is top-tier plastic surgeons. They are volunteering their time and their surgical centers, and it's just a lot of beautiful people that come together for the greater good. **Tawny:** That's really amazing. It's so interesting because we get so much feedback when we start putting out upcoming Tawny Talks that we're going to have, and there's a lot of excitement about getting to talk to you. People know you from so many different stages of your life and your career because we've seen you from *Charles in Charge* and *Baywatch* and just all the things. And it makes me wonder, having experienced as much as you have - the peaks, the valleys, so many different things in your life so far - what's something you would go back and tell 15-year-old Nicole? **Nicole:** I think that's such an interesting question that I get asked a lot. I think that at the end of the day, the one piece of advice I would give a young Nicole was to just continue to stay positive and keep the faith that things work out. You just keep going, you stay living in the moment, and you just keep moving forward **Tawny:** A big chapter of your career that people remember and love you for is *Baywatch*. What was your experience like becoming a part of that cast? **Nicole:** Well, for me, it was interesting. It was not, anything yet. It was a show that had just been canceled. It had been tanked by the network. They didn't want it. It was being brought back in syndication with a brand-new cast in hopes of reviving it. So for me, it was this show that we were trying to breathe life back into. And during my two seasons it became the number one show in the world, which was mind-boggling. It was like, "Wait, what? What just happened?" **Tawny** It's the Eggert effect! **Nicole:** It was an effect that none of us were really anticipating to happen so quickly. And for some cast members, that was fantastic. For me it just wasn't so fantastic because although it was the number one show in the world, it was being completely drug through the mud by the media in the United States, and we were being made fun of and being insulted and being called bimbos. For me, I had such a career up until that point, and a career that I was very proud of and just so many great things I had done, to now be associated with this show. Doors were closing and it just all of a sudden turned from this amazing career to "Oh, my God, what just happened?" I decided to leave the show, thinking, “I just need to disassociate myself”. I was 20 years old. In hindsight, as adults we probably figure you ride things out, you make the most of it, you continue on. But for me that wasn't the decision. It wasn't the show I thought it was going to be. I really thought it was going to be more like the network show was where it was more of a drama show. And this other formula was working so well for them, and I get it and that's fantastic, but it just wasn't where I saw my career going or where I wanted my career to go. That was just never in the cards for me. It was a little bit startling and I just kind of needed to step back and take a break. **Tawny:** To work in that environment, I feel like there had to have been a great deal of pressure to exist and maintain a certain body image that felt like it would be expected - if not internally, than by the world. Did you feel that during your time on the show? **Nicole:** Well, I definitely knew that factor was there, but I was 20 years old. What 20-year-old is really concerned? Nothing I would do would change the way my body structure looked. I ate everything I wanted to. I didn't work out. I looked the same. Yeah. I didn't have a worry in the world as far as body image. I was a beach girl. I grew up at the beach. We lived at the beach. I was very comfortable in a bathing suit at the beach. So no, those things weren't such an issue for me, but you have to recognize that it is for maybe people that are older. know even the men felt the pressure of it. There’s a clause in the contract that you can't gain or lose five pounds. And it was like “oh my gosh, now all of a sudden we're weighing ourselves?” I didn't own a scale. I wasn't somebody that weighed myself. Ultimately, they weren't weighing us. I think that clause was in there to make sure that everybody stayed at a healthy place. But that could feel like pressure, right? That could feel like, "Don't you dare gain five pounds." But I think it also was in place to make sure that women didn't fall under. I think it went both ways. **Tawny:** That makes a lot of sense. And by the way, the idea of you being on *Baywatch* and being able to eat anything that you wanted during that time, you've just retroactively made a lot of enemies right now. People are grumbling under their breath about fricking Nicole. **Nicole:** But not at 20 years old. I think we were all that at 20 years old. That was pre-social media. There wasn't all this pressure of filters and AI and all that. That didn't exist. **Tawny:** We're talking a little retro now, and again, we saw you in the '80s, we saw you in the '90s, we saw we've seen you through the years. What's something from that '80s and '90s era that you genuinely miss and wish would come back? **Nicole:** I think that carefree spirit. The '80s were so fun. The early '90s were so fun. It was colorful, there was fun, music… MTV came out. Nobody was taking themself very seriously, right? Everybody was sort of celebrating. And I was a '70s baby, so the '80s were this coming into our own as teenagers, with Cyndi Lauper and Madonna and Prince and Michael Jackson. Just all of these fun, upbeat, new things. Everything was so new. We hadn't seen it all before. Nowadays it's almost like we've seen it all before and it's reinventing. But then it was so fresh. Everything was fresh and it was new and it was exciting. **Tawny:** You've been open during this whole conversation, as you have been again about all these different experiences in your life. What chapter of your life would you say feels the most like you? In other words, what part of your life did you feel like you could be free to be yourself? **Nicole:** I really feel like my cancer diagnosis gave that to me. It really gave me the freedom to not be scared. It gave me this fearlessness because, if cancer wasn't killing me, then, what else could? What else is It made me have this love and appreciation for my body because to go back to your point of body consciousness, we do spend a large portion of our time in our lives throughout the years picking it apart, and you wish this was better, or you wish that looked different or there are all these things. When your body shows up for you and fights for you, I couldn't help but have this amazing admiration and appreciation for my body that was fighting so hard for me, so I just kind of vowed that I really wasn't going be mean to it ever again. I wasn't going to pick it apart anymore, and I was going to support it like it was supporting me. We were one now. We were a team, and I felt like that was pretty unstoppable. **Tawny:** That's awesome. It sounds very empowering and taking good out of challenging situations is such a superpower, and being able to do that on such an important level sounds absolutely life-changing in a positive way. I think a lot of us can look for ways to do that on all different scales in our own lives. I want to ask you one more question, because Tawny's all about talking honestly about everything… the messy stuff, the complicated stuff. It's talking about life. At this stage of your life, what do you wish women were more honest with each other about? **Nicole:** I think we're getting there. I definitely see that we're getting there. I just wish that women would be so much more in support of other women instead of being intimidated or feeling less than by somebody, and feeling insecure next to somebody. I think it's really important to embrace each other and share the shine rather than trying to outdo the shine, if that makes sense, because I feel like that has, in a weird way, been historically embedded in women. And listen, not blaming men, blaming society. It's a societal thing that women have been pitted against each other or in competition of each other. > "Together we're just such a force. And when you join forces with a woman that you look at and you admire, it's powerful." It's a very powerful feeling, and it's a powerful energy. And we can do great things. We can move mountains, and we've just spent so much time feeling insecure by each other and that really needs to end. **Tawny:** That's great food for thought, and we thank you so much for joining us. Is there anything that you'd like to point people towards? Especially since we're talking about things like Breast Cancer Awareness Month, where do you want people to go to learn more or just to keep up with all the things Nicole? **Nicole:** You can see me on all my socials. I'm Nicole Eggert. I have a podcast, Perfectly Twisted podcast. Don't forget to feel yourself up, ladies and gentlemen. It can be fun, and it's necessary. Get to know your girls. Know what they feel like. Make sure you know what's going on there. Get your screenings. Men too. Get all your screenings. Do all of the things. Stay on top of your health, and watch what you're putting in your body and putting on your body. Let's be more conscious of that in the United States of America, and let's just really support and love each other and come together. Find a common ground again. **Tawny:** Thank you, Nicole! Thank y’all for checking out another Tawny Talk, and we will see you next time. ### Keep the Conversation Going Nicole Eggert reminds us that breast cancer awareness goes beyond October. Early detection, self-advocacy, and supporting one another can make a difference. **Stay Connected With Nicole** Follow Nicole on social media and listen to her podcast, *Perfectly Twisted*. **Causes Close to Her Heart** Nicole supports [Mission Plasticos](https://missionplasticos.org/?ref=tawnymagazine.com), which provides reconstructive surgery for qualifying patients, and works with [HerScan](https://herscan.com/?ref=tawnymagazine.com) to raise awareness about breast health and supplemental screening options. **Breast Cancer Awareness** Stay informed, know your body, and speak with your healthcare provider about appropriate screenings. Learn more through the [American Cancer Society](https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/breast-cancer.html?ref=tawnymagazine.com). *Because taking care of ourselves—and each other—never goes out of style.*