Clea Shearer marked a milestone not long ago: her hair was finally long enough to pull up and pin back.
“Not only was it freeing to get it out of your face, but what it meant for me is that it was the first time I was able to look in the mirror and not see a cancer patient, not see someone who is the result of chemotherapy,” the Home Edit star said. “It was a huge flood of relief that I didn’t even expect.”
After she was diagnosed with stage 1 invasive mammary carcinoma, an aggressive form of breast cancer, in March 2022, Shearer, 42, underwent months of chemotherapy and radiation, and six surgeries, including a double mastectomy and a recent procedure over the summer to remove her ovaries.
Clea Shearer in the hospital in Nashville, November 2023.
Clea Shearer
Since completing chemo treatment in September 2022, she has embraced each victory. “I celebrate every single milestone I have,” she says.
And that includes something seemingly small like a hairstyle: “I wasn’t looking for that milestone necessarily, but when I reached it, I was like, ‘Wow, I think I could walk around without people wondering or questioning my hair,’ which is amazing.”
Another unexpected discovery from her cancer journey: her own strength. “I thought I was a delicate flower,” Shearer says. “But this process has taught me I’m so much stronger than I ever thought possible.”
Clea Shearer with son Sutton, daughter Stella and husband John in 2024.
Clea Shearer/Instagram
The mom of two — she shares Stella, 13, and Sutton, 10, with her husband, photographer John Shearer — says her kids have also gotten to see that side of her.
“When I was in chemo, we were at a restaurant and my son was drawing on the kid’s menu and he passed it to me,” she recalls. “It was a picture of a lion and it said, ‘You’re braver than a lion.’ I have it framed.” Stella, meanwhile, is currently working on a speech for eighth grade — the theme is the day her mom shaved her head for cancer treatment.
Her kids “are part of the reason why you continue to fight like hell. I want them to see that I am brave and strong and that I’m a fighter.”
Clea Shearer’s son’s drawing.
Clea Shearer/Instagram
That means “staying hyper-vigilant” she says. Although her breast cancer was early-stage, she is hormone receptor-positive and HER2-negative, which means, she says, “I have a very high risk of reoccurrence.”
Joanna Teplin and Clea Shearer, new hosts of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition on set in August.
Clea Shearer
“Part of that effort is her new partnershipwith drugmaker Eli Lilly and Company to share her experience with a medication she began taking in January 2023 called Verzenio, “When you have breast cancer that has a high risk of coming back, you wake up every day with a little bit of a fear. Cancer follows you like a shadow,” she says. “So anything I can do to cut into that is truly amazing. It feels like I have a little bit more of a safety net.”
After two years without any signs of cancer returning, “I am so hopeful,” she says.
