The Ananda Lewis Show
A talk show that tackled serious topics.
Ananda Lewis, a former BET and MTV host, fronted her own nationally syndicated talk show for two seasons. The program tackled serious topics, setting it apart from more sensationalized competitors like Ricki Lake and Jerry Springer.
Quick Facts
- Host
- Ananda Lewis
- Network
- nationally syndicated
- Seasons
- 2
- Genre
- talk show
Facts from the source article.
Early life and education
Sarasvati Ananda Lewis was born on March 21, 1973, in Los Angeles, California, the second daughter of Yvonne Lewis, an account manager for Pacific Bell, and Stanley Lewis, a computer-animation specialist. Her parents divorced when she was two, and she and her sister Lakshmi were relocated by their mother to live with their grandmother in San Diego. Her mother then took an extended trip to Europe, leaving the children with their grandmother for about a year; Lewis felt abandoned. She often fought with her mother and rarely saw her father. At age eight, she entered and won the Little Miss San Diego Contest, performing a self-choreographed dance to "Ebony and Ivory." This led to work in local theater and television. In fourth grade, she enrolled at the San Diego School of Creative and Performance Arts, a public magnet school, where she studied theater, vocal music, photography, and dance through high school. She majored in history at Howard University, graduating cum laude in 1995.
Career
While a student at Howard University in 1993, Lewis appeared in the music video for Shai's "Baby, I'm Yours." She had volunteered as a mentor with at-risk youth and, encouraged by her pupils, auditioned for BET's Teen Summit. She became its host, discussing serious issues for three seasons. In 1996, she interviewed then-First Lady Hillary Clinton on an episode titled "It Takes a Village." That year, Teen Summit was nominated for a CableACE Award, and the next year Lewis received an NAACP Image Award for her work on BET. MTV then offered her a position as a program host and video jockey. She hesitated to leave Teen Summit, reportedly crying for three weeks, but decided to move to MTV to reach a larger audience and influence America's youth.
Illness and death
On October 2, 2020, Lewis announced she had been diagnosed in 2019 with stage III breast cancer after a self-exam. She urged followers to get mammograms, noting she had not had hers before diagnosis. On October 15, 2024, she announced her cancer had progressed to stage IV. She discussed her health journey with CNN correspondents Stephanie Elam and Sara Sidner, a best friend from Howard University. Lewis expressed regret over refusing a physician-recommended double mastectomy. In January 2025, Essence published an open letter by Lewis stressing prevention as the real cure. She wrote about not fitting the mastectomy, chemotherapy, and radiation into her overwhelmed life while ending a 10-year relationship with her son's father. She described treatment-seeking relocations between California and Arizona, including a trip to an American doctor in Mexico, and addressed financial and emotional challenges, healthcare insurance issues, the COVID-19 pandemic's effect on her treatment, and her views on quality of life. Lewis died in hospice care at her Los Angeles home on June 11, 2025, at age 52, surrounded by family.
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