medicine

Kate Walsh Reveals That She Had a Brain Tumor Removed in 2015

Walsh. Photo: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images

Though Kate Walsh spent years playing a doctor on TV, her most urgent medical advice comes from her own experience. In an interview with Cosmopolitan, the former Private Practice star discussed how she was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2015, which was found to be benign and was removed with surgery. “It was over 5cm, like a small lemon in my head, causing quite a bit of damage,” Walsh said of the diagnosis. “The whole situation was so overwhelming, and I was just so relieved to know there was something wrong, that it wasn’t just my imagination and that my instincts were correct.” After taking nine months off to recover from the surgery, Walsh dove into a series of new projects, including 13 Reasons Why, Girls Trip, Felt, and the Off Broadway play If I Forget. She decided to share the news of her experience now, she told Cosmo, to encourage others to have annual checkups with their doctors — she’s also taking part in a campaign with other TV doctors centered on just that idea. Listen to the TV doctor, go see a real doctor.

Kate Walsh Had a Brain Tumor Removed in 2015