Actress Valerie Harper, left, appears with co-host Dr. Travis Stork during a taping of "The Doctors," airing Monday on KOKI, channel 23, cable 5. CBS TELEVISION DISTRIBUTION/AP Photo/Stage 29 Productions
Iconic actress Valerie Harper will open up about her terminal cancer Monday on the "Today" show and "The Doctors."
Harper, the much beloved actress who starred as best friend/neighbor Rhoda Morganstern on 1970s sitcom "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and starred in the spinoff "Rhoda," will be interviewed on "Today” airing 7-9 a.m. Monday on NBC, channel 2, cable 9, and on the syndicated series "The Doctors" at 9 a.m. Monday on KOKI, channel 23, cable 5.
The interviews were taped after her announcement last week that she had been diagnosed in January with leptomeningeal carcinomatosis, a rare and incurable form of brain cancer, and may have as little as three months to live. She has chosen to be treated with chemotherapy and is "more than hopeful," she said in one interview.
On the "Doctors," she talks with Dr. Travis Stork and other physicians about how she and her family have been managing since receiving the news and how she plans to live out her remaining days, according to press information.
Co-host and emergency room physician, Stork, takes viewers through an in-depth look at the probable course of this disease and explains why it is difficult to treat.
The actress and author, who survived lung cancer in 2009, is joined on stage by her husband, Tony Cacciotti, who reveals he initially hid the diagnosis from his wife. They are also joined by her "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" cast mates Cloris Leachman and Ed Asner.
"I have to tell you I am blown away by her resilience and her resolve in the face of such a dire, dire diagnosis," said Stork.
Harper, 73, tells the doctors she did not receive the diagnosis directly from her doctors.
"I didn't get it because my husband hid it," she said. "Poor baby; he was so bereft. (The doctors) said there is nothing we can do for her and (she has) three to six months; maybe."”
Also on the show will be Harper's team of doctors from Cedars neuro-oncologist Dr. Jeremy Rudnick and oncologist Dr. Ronald Natale, who will talk about her specific treatment.
Harper's "Today" show interview with co-host Savannah Guthrie was taped in her Los Angeles home.
She'll also appear on CBS' "The Talk" at 1 p.m. Wednesday on channel 6.
Here's a preview of Monday's "The Doctors."
