Supermodel Elle Macpherson speaks out for the first time about her battle with breast cancer and her refusal of traditional treatment
'90s supermodel Elle Macpherson, who recently revealed she has been attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings for 20 years, has revealed for the first time that she battled breast cancer and refused a mastectomy, chemotherapy, hormone therapy and breast reconstruction surgery. She spoke about it in an interview with Australian magazine Women's Weekly and in her autobiography, Elle.
The 60-year-old model says her diagnosis seven years ago was a shock: "It was a complete surprise, I was confused, scared. But it really gave me the opportunity to dive deeper into my feelings to find a solution that would work for me. I realized I was going to need my own belief system."
After her diagnosis, doctors suggested a mastectomy with radiation, chemotherapy, hormone therapy, and breast reconstruction. At the time, the model was dating physician Andrew Wakefield, who was widely known for his anti-vaccination stance: he was the one who falsified a study in 1998 that claimed a link between the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine and autism. These studies were later refuted, but many still refuse vaccinations due to fears of autism.
According to the Daily Mail, it seems that her relationship with Andrew Wakefield influenced Elle Macpherson's decision to refuse traditional methods of breast cancer treatment. By her own admission, she refused 32 doctors and is now in remission thanks to the methods she chose for herself. According to Elle, she prayed and meditated on the beach in Miami and came to the conclusion that she wanted to treat her cancer not with pharmaceuticals, but with an "intuitive, heartfelt, holistic approach": "Saying no to standard medical solutions was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. But saying no to my gut feeling would have been even harder."
After making that decision, she rented a home in Phoenix, Arizona, where she "holistically treated" her cancer under the guidance of her doctor, a naturopathic doctor, a dentist, an osteopath, a chiropractor, and two therapists.
Elle is now in "clinical remission," which she prefers to call "completely cured," but she says her sons, Flynn, 26, and Cy, 21, and their father, French investor Arpad Brusson (whom Elle separated from in 2005), have had mixed reactions to her unusual approach to cancer treatment. Her youngest son was supportive, calling chemotherapy "the kiss of death," while her eldest son was less than thrilled with her choice. Neither was Arpad Brusson, who wrote her a supportive letter.
British doctor Andrew Wakefield was stripped of his medical licence in 2010 after his research into vaccines and autism was deemed an "elaborate fraud". He was found to have financial and ethical conflicts of interest, and the General Medical Council found that he had used children with autistic traits as guinea pigs, subjecting them to invasive, unpleasant and unnecessary procedures including colonoscopies and lumbar punctures. He was even reported to have paid children £5 at one children's party to have their blood drawn.
After his deception was exposed, he moved to the US and became a filmmaker and activist, and during the coronavirus pandemic, he began spreading conspiracy theories about vaccination again. It was also in the US that he met Elle Macpherson, who shared his views.
His work was reportedly quite successful and made him a lot of money: he founded the Thoughtful House Centre for Children in Austin, an autism centre, and was paid £228,000 a year as its executive director from 2005 to 2010. After moving to the US, he found several wealthy backers who believed his stories about a Big Pharma conspiracy to profit from those who vaccinate.
He met Elle Macpherson in 2017, and for her he left his wife Carmel, with whom he has four children.