‘America’s Got Talent’ Host Terry Crews’ Wife Rebecca Has Double Mastectomy After Breast Cancer Diagnosis

Rebecca Crews has opened up about her recent double-mastectomy, which she had performed after she’d been diagnosed with breast cancer. In an interview with PEOPLE, she explained what she took from the experience, as well as how her husband, Terry Crews, was there for her throughout.

“Though it was Stage 1, you’re overwhelmed with fear, like cancer is this all-consuming, all-powerful evil entity,” Crews said. After having a pre-cancerous lump removed from her right breast 12 years ago, she remained both vigilant and optimistic about her health, but that changed when she went into a checkup just a few weeks ago. With her mammogram clear, Crews insisted she have an ultrasound done as well. “I had this gut feeling, like, ‘Better safe than sorry,’” she explained.

“I just thought to myself, ‘Okay, if they find something, Rebecca, just cut it off and reconstruct it,’” she recalled thinking on the examination table. Weeks later, she got the call about her results.

“After the call, I had this clear vision of myself stepping through a door, and on the other side of this door, the sun was shining brightly and I was very happy,” she said. “I just had this sense that I was going to be okay.”

Once she got the results that the results were positive, she said that she told her husband immediately.

“My husband has watched me go through a lot, but the look on his face… he looked at me like I was going to die,” she recalled. “He told me it felt like his insides were melting. I said, ‘I need you to be strong for me,’ and he said, ‘Okay’ and hugged me, but I think he needed that hug.”

Crews had her surgery on March 3, which was a rare day off for her husband’s between his work as a judge on America’s Got Talent and the NBC cop comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine. This allowed him to stay by her side throughout the procedure. Even though the cancerous cells were successfully removed, there were added complications due to the escalating concerns about coronavirus.

“I’ve been so nervous, too, because a couple times I’ve woken up in the middle of the night with trouble breathing and thought, ‘Oh no,” Crews said. Despite her obvious concerns, she says that she’s been enjoying self-isolating with her husband.

“I’m doing a little soul searching and asking myself what’s important to me. But other than that… my life is in a good balance, and I have so many happy, exciting things to focus on.”