An influential determine from MTV’s heyday, former VJ and speak present host Ananda Lewis has died at 52. As soon as dubbed “the hip-hop era’s reigning It Woman” by The New York Occasions, Lewis was a steadfast icon and a well-recognized face on the music community all through the late ’90s.
Lewis leaves behind a son, Langston.
Greatest recognized for internet hosting MTV’s iconic Complete Request Dwell and Scorching Zone within the late ’90s, Lewis left the community in 2001 to launch her personal daytime program, The Ananda Lewis Present.
Lewis’s sister Lakshmi introduced information of her loss of life in a Fb publish shared on Wednesday, June 11.
“She’s free, and in His heavenly arms,” she wrote, alongside a collection of damaged coronary heart emojis and a black and white portrait of Lewis. “Lord, relaxation her soul.”
Lewis first rose to prominence as an MTV VJ in 1997, showing on cornerstone reveals like Complete Request Dwell and the community’s each day Prime 10 countdown. She shortly grew to become one among MTV’s most recognizable faces, internet hosting a number of topical packages, together with tributes to late singer Aaliyah and a particular addressing the aftermath of the Columbine Excessive College bloodbath.
That very same 12 months, she was honored with an NAACP Picture Award for her impactful work because the host of BET’s Teen Summit. She would go on to win a second Picture Award in 2001 for internet hosting the MTV particular True Life: I Am Driving Whereas Black.
In 2020, Lewis revealed on Instagram that she had been recognized with stage III breast most cancers. She shared that she had averted common mammograms as a result of a concern of radiation.
In an article she wrote for the January/February 2025 version of Essence, Lewis mirrored on the significance of prioritizing one’s well being. She revealed that, as a result of earlier selections, “the most cancers had gone wild in my physique,” and it had progressed to stage IV.
“I encourage individuals to have a look at the data and research that exist. Search them out, be taught from them and apply the modifications to your life, to be able to proceed to thrive and dwell so long as you’ll be able to. As Black girls, we’ve all types of things we’re not even conscious of that contribute to most cancers impinging upon us. Enhance your information about forestall getting right here within the first place. Prevention is the true treatment.”