Nicole Eggert on July 10, 2024. Photo:
Maarten de Boer/Contour by Getty
The ‘Baywatch’ star opens up to PEOPLE about her health after being diagnosed with breast cancer in December 2023
Nicole Eggert is taking her health one day at a time amid her breast cancer diagnosis.
The actress, who played Summer Quinn on Baywatch, revealed that she had been diagnosed with stage 2 cribriform carcinoma breast cancer in early December 2023. Now, she said that she’s “just trying to stay positive every day.”
“I’m on a wild roller coaster ride. There’s ups and downs, and I just try to wake up every day feeling really positive and ready to handle whatever is coming at me, to be honest with you,” she says while discussing her latest project After Baywatch: Moment in the Sun, a docuseries that premieres Aug. 28 on Hulu.
Nicole Eggert as Summer Quinn on ‘Baywatch’.
Fremantle Media/Shutterstock
The docuseries, which Eggert helped produce, revists the cast of the hit ’90s TV phenomenon, which at its peak, netted billions of viewers around the globe. In the four-part project, the actors reflect on the highs and the lows of their time on the beaches of southern California.
“I hope that people give the actors, and all the people involved, honestly, the respect that they really deserve. I think everybody sort of glossed over it and was like, ‘Oh, it’s just another pretty face in the red suit,'” Eggert says. “I’ve heard ‘disposable’ used a lot. I tend to disagree with that. I hope that people can see them for the humans that [we] are behind the face because it’s a group of great people.”
Working on the docuseries for the last five years has also proved to be very cathartic for the former actress, especially as she’s grappled with her breast cancer diagnosis over the last eight months.
“Having a young daughter and having this project has been a great motivation for me to not just sit and think about my health and my wellbeing. It’s giving me purpose,” says Eggert, who is a mom to Keegan, 13, as well as adult daughter Dilyn, 25. “It’s keeping me driven every day. I think the timing of life is always for a reason. It’s been a great distraction, and my daughters kept me on my toes.”
After her diagnosis in December 2023, Eggert spoke about how her health has impacted her children.
“[Dilyn’s] an adult, but I have a 12-year-old at home where I’m the only caregiver. I have no family. I have nothing,” she said, reflecting on “the horror” on Keegan’s face when she told her about her diagnosis. “It immediately made me realize, there’s just no succumbing to this. This is something I have to get through. This is something that I have to beat. She needs me more than anything and anybody.”
Carmen Electra, David Chokachi, Alexandra Paul, Traci Bingham, Nicole Eggert, Billy Warlock, Jeremy Jackson and Erika Eleniak at the 2024 Summer TCA Portrait Studio in July 2024.
Maarten de Boer/Contour by Getty
On July 26, Eggert posted a video to Instagram sharing a positive update with her followers.
“I just left meeting with my surgeons, and the words they used were I had a ‘full complete response,'” she explained.
Eggert continued: “My body fully responded to the chemo. There’s no detectable cancer in that area, and I have the green light to go ahead and schedule surgery. This will be a mastectomy and reconstruction, and this will be a whole journey on its own, but it worked. It worked. It worked.”
Eggert’s history with Baywatch dates back to 1992, when she cast on the show at just 18 years old. She remained on the show for two seasons.
Reflecting on her time on the series, Eggert says now: “I quit Baywatch. [But] running away from things does not make them disappear. As a young person, I sort of ran from it,” she admits, “but I also don’t have any regrets at the same time. I don’t believe in them.”
