Legendary Comedy Actress Reveals Stage 4 Cancer Diagnosis

Australian TV icon Magda Szubanski is opening up about her battle with a “very rare, very aggressive” form of cancer.

The 64-year-old star, known for her roles as Sharon Strzelecki in the TV series Kath and Kim and Esme Hoggett in the film Babe, shared in a Wednesday social media post that she has been diagnosed with stage four mantle cell lymphoma, “a rare and fast-moving blood cancer.”

“It’s serious, but I’ve started one of the best treatments available (the Nordic protocol), and I’m lucky to be getting absolutely world-class care here in Melbourne,” Szubanski, who said she shaved her head “in anticipation of it all falling out in a couple of weeks,” said in the post. “I won’t sugar-coat it: it’s rough. But I’m hopeful. I’m being lovingly cared for by friends and family, my medical team is brilliant, and I’ve never felt more held by the people around me.”

Mantle cell lymphoma is an aggressive, rare form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma that arises from cells originating in the “mantle zone,” per the Lymphoma Research Foundation. Szubanski said she was diagnosed with the “obscure cancer,” which accounts for roughly 5% to 10% of all NHL cases, “incidentally” when doctors noticed that her “lymph nodes were up” during a routine breast screen. The actress said she’d been “feeling pretty ratshit for ages” and requested “extra bloods and – voila!”

Szubanski is now undergoing treatment in Melbourne and told her fans that she will “be lying very low while my immune system takes a hammering, so if you see me out and about—don’t hug me, kiss me, or breathe anywhere near me! Wave enthusiastically from a safe distance and know I love you madly.”

“For now, just know I’m in good hands, good spirits—but I reserve my yuman right to be a cranky old moll,” she added in the post as she urged her followers to “get tested and listen to your body!”

After revealing her cancer diagnosis, the actress was flooded with an outpouring of support from her fellow actors. Australian radio presenter Carrie Bickmore, who lost her husband Greg Lange to brain cancer in 2010, commented on the post, “Oh babe. F–. You’ve got this yelling at you now from a distance that we all love you.” Jurassic Park star Sam Neill, who was diagnosed with stage three angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma in 2022, added, “Right there with you darling xx.”

Szubanski is a beloved Australian comedy actress perhaps best known for her starring role as netball fan Sharon Strzelecki in Kath & Kim. Her other acting credits include Babe and Babe: Pig in the City, Happy Feet and Happy Feet Two, and Neighbours, among many others.