CNN Correspondent Breaks Down Sharing Ananda Lewis’ Final Text Message Before Her Death

It’s been a difficult time for Ananda Lewis’ loved ones.

On Thursday, June 12, her longtime friend, CNN correspondent Stephanie Elam, joined another friend, fellow CNN correspondent Sara Sidner, on air to discuss their memories of Lewis.

In October 2024, the three women sat down for a candid conversation about cancer treatment with Sidner opting for the traditional treatment route of getting a double mastectomy, undergoing chemotherapy and radiation. Lewis, who lived with breast cancer for years, chose to bypass the double mastectomy in favor of a more holistic approach to treatment.

Lewis died on June 11 at the age of 52 after living with stage IV cancer for years.

“One thing I want everyone to know is that she was at peace with this decision,” Elam said of Lewis. “She had come to grips with it.”

Elam, who visited with Lewis the day before her death, shared that her recent decline came on suddenly.

“We thought we had weeks and it turned out that it turned into days and it turned out it was just a matter of hours,” Elam said. “It happened very quickly how things changed.”

Through tears, Elam also shared part of Lewis’ final text message to her, reading it live on air.

“She texted me and said things had taken a different turn than she would have liked,” Elam said. “This is part of the text she sent me: ‘You know my feelings on this. We all go. These bodies are on loan and must be returned. We come in love and choose to leave it with love as well.’ And then she goes on to say, ‘I love you my wonderful lifelong bestie of besties.’ ”

Elam added that she’s known Lewis for the majority of her life, calling her “my ride or die.”

“I love my girl, but she was hard-headed,” Elam said of Lewis’ approach to her cancer treatment. “She wanted to do it her own way despite the fact that so many of us close to her wanted her to try the way that [Sidner] did it. But this is what she wanted to do and she was totally at peace with it.”

On Instagram, Elam shared that she first met Lewis at Howard University when they were students.

“Before she auditioned for ‘Teen Summit,’ she got dressed in my dorm room. Her first day on the air on MTV, I was there — just off camera — to cheer her on,” Elam captioned her tribute video. “We were there for each other in the big moments and the quiet everyday ones — the no makeup mommying days and our annual ‘framily’ traditions with our kids — which we never missed.”

Lewis became well known in 1997 when she was hired to be one of MTV’s VJs, hosting shows like Total Request Live and Hot Zone. In 1999, The New York Times dubbed her “the hip-hop generation’s reigning It Girl.” She left MTV in 2001 to host her own talk show, The Ananda Lewis Show.