Former MTV VJ and Total Request Live host Ananda Lewis died at age 52 in June 2025 following a seven-year battle with breast cancer.
Ananda’s sister, Lakshmi Lewis, announced the sad news via Facebook, writing, “She’s free, and in His Heavenly arms.”
Ananda went public with her stage III breast cancer battle in 2020 and confessed that she’d avoided regular mammograms for years over a fear of radiation. She wrote a powerful essay for Essence in January 2025 in which she urged fans to “do everything in [their] power to avoid” her story becoming theirs.
“If I had known what I know now 10 years ago, perhaps I wouldn’t have ended up here,” she wrote. “I would have been cold plunging, exercising consistently, making sure my vitamin D levels were good, detoxing my body on a monthly and yearly basis, and sleeping better. I would’ve been doing all the things I’ve been forced to do now, to keep my body from creating more cancer and remove what it has already made.”
Ananda leaves behind former partner Harry Smith and their son, Langston.
Keep scrolling for more information about Ananda’s marriage and family.
Harry Smith
Ananda was connected to Oscar winner Will Smith through her relationship with his younger brother, Harry. Harry and his twin sister, Ellen, were born in 1971.
While Harry lives a largely private life away from the spotlight, he has his own production company called Smith Global Media, which released the 2016 Christmas movie Believe and the animated musical Gnome Alone.
Harry and Ananda never discussed their relationship publicly, but they share one son named Langston.
Langston SmithAnanda gave birth to her only child, Langston, in 2011. She described herself as a “stay-at-home mom full-time” because she homeschooled her son.
When she confirmed her cancer diagnosis in 2020, Ananda nearly broke down as she discussed the possibility of her son growing up without her.
“I have a 9-year-old I need to be here for,” she tearfully told Instagram followers. “I have no intention on leaving him.”
During a subsequent interview on Hollywood Unlocked in 2020, Ananda looked back on Langston’s initial reaction to her breast cancer diagnosis.
“He’s, from a very young age, been very in touch with his power in his body,” she explained. “When I told him [about my diagnosis], I think I was very clear. I remember saying, ‘I have a tumor in my breast.’ He said. ‘What is a tumor?’ And I said, ‘It’s an accumulation of cells that won’t die. It’s my job from here on until I die to get them out of my body.’”
Ananda continued, “Langston listened to me. He knew I was going to start juicing, fasting. … He knew I had all these plans and all these scientifically studied and backed-up approaches I was taking. I needed him to be on board with me as a teammate, right?”
The former MTV VJ insisted that her son quickly understood her diagnosis even at age 7 because he’d “always been a very smart kid.”
“He took his little hand and he put it on my chest. He sent me healing,” she remembered. “He literally closed his eyes and did his little thing, that I taught him to do, on me. It was such a moment. For me, it was really wonderful and beautiful that he didn’t go right into fear.”
Langston later took part in social media videos with his mom, including one vlog where she candidly explained how her treatment schedule impacted her son’s day-to-day life.
“I am consumed with my health and have been for four years. I’m still fighting cancer,” she said in 2022. “A lot of my time and energy and resources has to go to that.”
She went on to say, “I know Langston has suffered in some ways, in terms of my time and availability, because of that. It is all important.”
By 2024, Ananda’s breast cancer had progressed to stage IV, though she opted not to undergo a double mastectomy and multiple rounds of chemotherapy. She told ABC News that she made the difficult decision to forego the doctor-recommended treatment because of her responsibilities as a stay-at-home mother.
“I couldn’t handle such a drastic surgery in my life at that time,” she said. “I was a stay-at-home mom [and] homeschooling my son. Cancer doesn’t come and replace all the other stuff you have to do. Cancer happens on top of your life. For me, it was just too overwhelming at the beginning.”
Ananda ultimately underwent “fractionated chemotherapy” — which she said was “10 to 20 percent” of the usual dose — and was monitored by her doctors as she pursued alternative treatments.
“Stage IV breast cancer is not a death sentence any more,” she told ABC News. “Women live very good lives, and again, there are women who do everything they were supposed to do and end up stage IV anyway. So, I feel like if this is where I was supposed to end up, this is where I’m going to end up. … Every day I get, I’m grateful for.”
Ananda died at age 52 in June 2025.
