Veep star Julia Louis-Dreyfus reveals why sharing her breast cancer diagnosis in 2017 didn’t feel like a choice

Julia Louis-Dreyfus has revealed that she felt "backed into a corner" to share her breast cancer diagnosis publicly years ago. The actress joined host Amy Poehler in her Good Hang podcast on Tuesday, December 9, and reflected on her decision to share her health battle with the public. 

The Veep star was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer in September 2017 while starring in the sitcom Veep. She opened up about the diagnosis in an Instagram post, per US Magazine. However, Louis-Dreyfus admitted to Poehler that the public announcement of her health battle then wasn't entirely her choice. She felt forced to do it because of what the diagnosis means to her work commitments. She said:

"I was kind of backed into a corner on that one, because we had to shut our show down. It's funny how that worked out, because normally I would not have done that. I'm very private."

Julia Louis-Dreyfus explained that she had to make a public thing out of it once she realized that she needed to share the reason why they had to put production on pause, and "250 people weren't going to be working" because of it. 

But despite the feeling that she was backed into a corner to publicly reveal her cancer battle, the actress admitted that some positive things came out of it. She said that opening up about her diagnosis inspired people to reach out to her and ask about her experience and for advice. She added that she was able to help others on that front. 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus announced a year after sharing her diagnosis that she was in remission after getting a double mastectomy and six rounds of chemotherapy. She eventually returned to Veep a year later for its seventh and final season. 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus is set to star in a detective movie with Hugh Jackman, Emma Thompson

The Veep alum returned to acting full-time after her battle with cancer. She's been in a handful of movies since the last season of Veep, including Black Widow and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. She also starred as triple agent Valentina Allegra de Fontaine in Thunderbolts*​​​​​​. 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus also has a couple of projects on the line. It includes a murder mystery movie called The Sheep Detectives. It was previously titled Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Movie when it was presented at CinemaCon back in April, but the working title has been changed as of October. 

The film is currently in post-production, per its IMDb page. Julia Louis-Dreyfus will be starring in it alongside a series of big-name and veteran Hollywood actors, including Hugh Jackman and Emma Thompson. Jackman stars in the film as a shepherd named George who reads murder mysteries aloud to his sheep every night, pretending that they can understand everything he says. 

But when he's found dead one day under mysterious circumstances, his sheep will have to solve the case when a local cop is found unable to do it. Jackman teased back in April that The Sheep Detectives is "a bit of whodunit." 

The film is based on Leonie Swann's 2005 novel, Three Bags Full, and will also star Nicholas Galitzine, Molly Gordon, Bryan Cranston, Regina Hall, and more. 

Three Bags Full arrives in theaters on May 8, 2026.