Victoria Jackson in Encino, California in August 2021.Photo:Paul Archuleta/Getty
Paul Archuleta/Getty
Victoria Jacksonhas made peace with her fate.
TheSaturday Night Livealum confirmed in anInstagram poston Aug. 14 that her cancer had returned after initially being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015. In the nearly 8-minute video, the actresssaid her cancerwas inoperable, explaining that doctors “cannot operate and cut out the marble in my chest that is laying on my windpipe, and eventually would suffocate me to death.”
In an interview with PEOPLE, Jackson shares how doctors broke the news on her 65thbirthday on Aug. 2. She says she took it in stride.
“I was like, ‘Oh, okay. Well,thatmakes sense.’ How can you catch every molecule?,’” she explains, adding, “I’m not good in science or math, but I expected it could come back. I kind of forgot about it for nine years. I forgot I had cancer.”
Victoria Jackson on ‘Saturday Night Live’ in December 1986.Alan Singer/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank
Alan Singer/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank
Jackson first learned she had breast cancer after performing stand-up at Nashville’s Zanies Comedy Club in 2015. Noticing a cough that “wouldn’t go away,” she visited the hospital, underwent tests, was told she had stage 3C breast cancer, indicating the cancer had spread to 10 or more lymph nodes in the armpit, below the collarbone and near the breastbone. Her treatment at the time included chemotherapy.
“I didn’t really have nausea. It wasn’t so bad,” she says, adding, “But it’s not like a picnic.”
Thesetreatmentswill allow the actress to spend more time with her husband Paul Wessell, her children Scarlet and Aubrey, and her grandchildren.
Victoria Jackson in Beverly Hills, California in March 1989.Ron Galella, Ltd./Getty
Ron Galella, Ltd./Getty
“My two daughters and my four grandchildren, they came over this weekend, and they were like, ‘Are you sad? Are you scared?’ And I thought, ‘Well, I’m not sad. … ‘Why am I not sad?’” she says. “Because I don’t miss anything in their childhoods. I video every day of my daughter’s lives. … And I don’t miss one thing with my grandchildren: tap [dance] recitals, acting shows, ever.”
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So whenever her final moments come, Jackson says she’ll leave the earth satisfied.
“Whether I die at 65, 70 or 75, what’s the difference?” she wonders. “I’m so blessed to have had a long life and a wonderful life.”
source: people.com