Valerie Harper Reveals: “I Am Absolutely Cancer-Free!”

Only in the new issue of Closer Weekly — Valerie Harper utters for the first time those powerful words every cancer patient hopes to say: “I’m absolutely cancer-free!” the beloved star, best known for her role on Rhoda, exclusively shares with Closer.

“My last scans have been positive, and my doctors are very happy,” Valerie adds, referring to her most recent scans taken just a few weeks ago. “[The oncologist] looked at the scans and said, ‘Oh my God, Valerie, this is very encouraging!’”

A little over a year ago, Valerie shocked her friends and fans by revealing she’d been diagnosed with terminal cancer and only had three to six months to live. “I’m now the poster child for not believing everything I’m told,” Valerie shares with Closer.

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“The doctors can only say, ‘In my experience, this cancer kills people and it’s incurable,’” the 74-year-old adds. When asked if she is in remission, Valerie tells the mag, “My doctor doesn’t use that term. He likes to say, ‘I give you a treatment, and it’s either responsive or nonresponsive — and you are having a phenomenal response.’”

As far as treatment is concerned, “I take medication once a week, a lot of pills at once, what they call a pulse dose. They can be difficult, but I try to sleep them off — I usually lay in bed very quietly to keep them down.” In addition to this treatment, Valerie visits her doctor but now only needs to go in every eight weeks.

“There may come a time when I’m not feeling good,” Valerie tells Closer. “But then again, that time may never come!”

For more on Valerie Harper’s health update, pick up the new issue of Closer Weekly, on newsstands now!