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It was the news that fans of Kath and Kim star Magda Szubanski had been dreading.
When the 65-year-old appeared on 60 Minutes on September 20, she had an update about her health.
While the comedian – who announced in February 27 she was in remission from Mantle Cell Lymphoma, a rare and aggressive form of blood cancer – told host Tracy Grimshaw that her cancer remained “at bay”, she described it as “an incurable relapsing cancer”, meaning “it’s almost sure that it will come back”.
“It’s a question of ‘when’ and then ‘how bad’,” she told the program candidly.
“The median survival rate is eight-and-a-half years. So, I could go less, or I could go more.”
Having such a stark reminder of her own mortality has certainly changed the star.
“I know all of us live, with a Damocles sword hanging over our heads. But for those of us who, you know, it hangs by only a couple of strands, it’s a very different feeling,” she shared.
“It is just a different state of consciousness. It’s a different awareness of death. It’s not abstract.”
And that knowledge is, one insider tells Woman’s Day, is a burden Magda now has to bear.
“Magda has always been incredibly resilient, but this has obviously weighed heavily on her,” the insider shares, adding that Magda’s friends have been “very much there for her”, providing laughs, checking in and “simply being there when she doesn’t feel like talking”.
“For Magda, the hardest part is knowing there is still so much she wants to do and so many things she wants to experience,” the source goes on.
“She’s someone who gets enormous joy from her work, her friendships and the people around her, so there’s a real determination to keep living life on her terms.”
Indeed, in her 60 Minutes interview, Magda found the courage to make a deeply personal revelation: that she had been sexually abused as a child by older children.
“I can’t believe I’m saying all this stuff on national television, but I’m also 65, and I’ve got cancer, and who f**king cares?” she said on the show.
“There’s a part of me that thinks, ‘If there’s anything that I know that’s gonna help someone else, I don’t know how long I’ve got, I’m gonna bloody share it’.”
A source tells Woman’s Day that Magda thought long and hard about going public with something she’d kept secret for so long.
“It can’t have been easy for Magda to speak so openly about something so personal. She’s always been generous with the public, but that doesn’t mean sharing something like this is easy,” the insider says.
“Her friends are incredibly proud of her for being honest about what she’s facing.”
So what does the future hold for Magda?
While for many months she took a back seat from public appearances, she recently returned to the stage of the 2026 TV Week Logies.
Her memoir, I Can’t Tell You But I Will, is published on September 29 and she’s set to appear at Sydney Opera House on October 4 to discuss it.
Despite her health struggles, it seems Magda is back – and she’s forging ahead on her own terms.
“Right now, her priority is making the most of the life she has — spending time with the people she loves, continuing to do the things that bring her happiness and not allowing fear to take over,” the insider tells Woman’s Day.
“And her friends want her to know she doesn’t have to face any of this alone.”
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