After a breast cancer diagnosis, double mastectomy and worries about her future, Samantha Harris finally has good news to share exclusively with Closer!

“I do not need chemotherapy,” the former Dancing With the Stars host reveals in an exclusive interview. “I am feeling fantastic and pretty close to my old self again in terms of my energy.”

But just a few weeks ago, the possibility of chemo “was on the table [following] a serious discussion with my oncologists.”

Samantha was against it, since it had made her father, who died of cancer, “very sick.”

So how was she able to avoid it? By detecting the lump early enough. Both docs think a less-harsh treatment option (the hormone-blocker Tamoxifen, “a lifesaver” she’ll take for five to 10 years) could work.

Still, Samantha says she may need her ovaries removed — "Menopause was not on my to-do list!” she tells the mag — to stop the cancer-fueling estrogen Tamoxifen targets, and there are side effects. “This is a long journey, but I’m focusing on my family and their love.”

For more on Samantha's recovery, pick up the new issue of Closer, on newsstands now!