06/19/2025
Ananda Lewis, a former MTV VJ who connected a generation of music fans to their favorite celebrities on the music network, has died. She was 52.
Lewis had been living with breast cancer in recent years, recently speaking with CNN about her treatment. She first shared in 2020 that she was diagnosed with stage III breast cancer after she conducted a self exam.
In her announcement at the time, she encouraged her followers to be up to date on their mammograms after revealing that she had been delayed in getting hers leading up to her diagnosis.
Lewis was a fixture on MTV’s programming during part of the network’s lineup in the ’90s, appearing on “MTV Live” as host, among other titles.
Lewis hosted “Teen Summit” – a series that focused on social issues affecting young Black Americans – for three seasons. With a co-host, she interviewed everyone from basketball legend Kobe Bryant to Hillary Clinton.
Following the success and notoriety that Lewis achieved from “Teen Summit,” she took on a new job as a host and “video jockey” at MTV in 1997. Lewis rose to fame hosting “Total Request Live” and “Hot Zone” on the networkl in its heyday.
Lewis maintained her passion for advocacy throughout her career. While at MTV, she moderated forums on school violence after the Columbine school shooting and hosted MTV’s news special “True Life: I Am Driving While Black” in 1999.
Since then, Lewis served as a correspondent on CBS’s “The Insider” and made guest appearances on TV shows such as “Celebrity Mole: Yucatán” and “America’s Top Dog.”
Toward the end of her chat with Elam and Sidner last year, Lewis discussed her approach to joy in life, while living with cancer.
“The cancer diagnosis caused me to change things in my life I never would have changed otherwise, that I needed to change but would not change,” she said. “And those changes have allowed me access to more of my joy, more of the time.” 🟡🦍‼️
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