Elle Macpherson rejects experts’ concerns cancer could return

Supermodel Elle Macpherson has rejected specialists’ concerns that her breast cancer could return, claiming that “fear is something that can really make you ill”.

Experts have warned that the 60-year-old’s decision to reject chemotherapy and instead undergo a holistic treatment following her 2017 breast cancer diagnosis has increased the risk of it coming back.

Elle Macpherson during her 60 Minutes interview.Credit: Nine

Macpherson told Channel Nine’s 60 Minutes on Sunday that it “wasn’t an easy decision” to reject medical advice after she was diagnosed with HER2-positive oestrogen-receptive intraductal carcinoma breast cancer.

After two lumpectomies – surgery that removes cancer from the breast – doctors in the US advised her to undergo treatment that included a mastectomy with radiation, chemotherapy, hormone therapy and a breast reconstruction.

“Something didn’t feel right about it though ... [the treatment advised by doctors] was not logical – it was just an inner sense ... I made a choice to go a more natural route in my treatment because that’s what really resonated with me from within,” she said.

Instead of following medical advice, Macpherson underwent an eight-month treatment program under the guidance of two holistic practitioners based in Phoenix, Arizona. The treatment included natural medication, dentistry, osteopathy, chiropractic treatment and, according to 60 Minutes, “a lot of spiritual work”.

“I spoke to 32 doctors along the way,” Macpherson said. “I had a very formidable team that helped me through it … I’m now clinically in remission, that’s the word most doctors would say.”

But according to 60 Minutes, an Australian breast oncologist not named by the program expressed “very real concerns”, telling 60 Minutes that Macpherson’s decision to reject conventional treatment meant the supermodel statistically now had a 20 per cent chance of recurrence in 10 years.

Separately, leading breast cancer surgeon Professor Cindy Mak told this masthead last week: “I do see people come back later with the HER2-positive disease all over, and it’s too late now – they’ve missed the boat.”

Despite the experts’ concerns, Macpherson said she did not anticipate any risk of recurrence and had no indication that there would be.

Asked what made her so confident, she said: “Because of the life I live, and because of the fact that when I did the work ... I looked at the root cause. And I believe … the body has the infinite capacity to heal, and I can, and I am in outer-wellness.

“So I have no indication [of recurrence]. Why would I be thinking ‘Oh gosh, what if it comes back?’ – because then I’d be … fearful, and fear is something that can really make you ill.”

Macpherson acknowledged that had she sought treatment in Australia, doctors would have advised a less aggressive treatment than that recommended by US doctors.

The supermodel went on to say that conventional medicine can be great if you “have a car accident and need a limb cut off”, but that she had decided to adopt a “more natural lifestyle because that’s what works for me”.