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Former MTV host and Veejay Ananda Lewis dead at 52

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Former MTV host and Veejay Ananda Lewis dead at 52

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Old 06-11-25 | 06:27 PM
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Former MTV host and Veejay Ananda Lewis dead at 52



Died from breast cancer.

Back in college, she was always on MTV and hosted a lot of shows for them. She's a few months older than me.

Damn, shocking and sad news.
Old 06-11-25 | 06:42 PM
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Re: Former MTV host and Veejay Ananda Lewis dead at 52

Aww that sucks
Old 06-11-25 | 06:49 PM
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Re: Former MTV host and Veejay Ananda Lewis dead at 52

Apparently she was diagnosed with the cancer 5 years ago, but instead of doing surgery, she opted for non-traditional treatment and the cancer worsened to stage 4 and spread.

Old 06-11-25 | 06:51 PM
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Re: Former MTV host and Veejay Ananda Lewis dead at 52

Wow. I just so happened to do an updated search on her about 2 months ago and I do recall that she was at risk with this, but there didn't appear to be any major concern after some supposed treatment(s).
Like some guys, I first knew her for BET (The "Teen Summit" show) and I remember a lot of my friends and relatives kept thinking she was Tatyana Ali (Ashley from Fresh Prince) It was cool to eventually see her on MTV and, to some extent, making history for being the first Veejay who worked at both MTV & BET.
After she left MTV, I was real hyped to find out that she was about to have her own daytime talk-show on syndicated TV. Unfortunately, that show was NOT for my demographic! It seemed to cater more to senior citizens (Very surprisingly) but just one week into her show, 9/11 happened. And although she did do a great Post-9/11 episode that dealt with the tragedies. That was it. The show was gone after that. That was my last time seeing her.

RIP, Beauty

Just remembered that MTV went to Skywalker Ranch for a celeb-showing of Phantom Menace. She was the host of that and I'm sure I still got that special on tape somewhere.
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Old 06-11-25 | 06:55 PM
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Re: Former MTV host and Veejay Ananda Lewis dead at 52

Is that supposed to be one of MTV's first Black VJs?
Old 06-11-25 | 06:59 PM
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Re: Former MTV host and Veejay Ananda Lewis dead at 52

Originally Posted by Count Dooku
Is that supposed to be one of MTV's first Black VJs?
Downtown Julie Brown and Bill Bellamy were there before her.
Old 06-11-25 | 07:08 PM
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Re: Former MTV host and Veejay Ananda Lewis dead at 52

Had a massive crush on her in the 90s when she was an MTV VJ.

Read about her health struggles a while back, and it's really heartbreaking that she went the woo-woo route instead of getting actual treatment that could have saved her life.
Old 06-11-25 | 07:27 PM
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Re: Former MTV host and Veejay Ananda Lewis dead at 52

oh man, that's horrible.
Old 06-11-25 | 07:30 PM
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Re: Former MTV host and Veejay Ananda Lewis dead at 52

Originally Posted by DJariya
Downtown Julie Brown and Bill Bellamy were there before her.

JJ Jackson
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Old 06-11-25 | 07:53 PM
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Re: Former MTV host and Veejay Ananda Lewis dead at 52

Originally Posted by DJariya
Downtown Julie Brown and Bill Bellamy were there before her.
Well, she is much closer to being one of the first Black VJs than she is to being one of the first VJs, as the Variety post describes her.
Old 06-11-25 | 10:56 PM
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Re: Former MTV host and Veejay Ananda Lewis dead at 52

RIP and too young to die

I remember her back when MTV had videos and music programming.
Old 06-12-25 | 12:31 AM
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Re: Former MTV host and Veejay Ananda Lewis dead at 52

Damn, remember her being on MTV all the time during junior high/high school. RIP.
Old 06-12-25 | 03:24 AM
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Re: Former MTV host and Veejay Ananda Lewis dead at 52

Originally Posted by DJariya
Downtown Julie Brown and Bill Bellamy were there before her.
Also Ed Lover and Doctor Dre of yo mtv raps



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Old 06-12-25 | 06:27 AM
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Re: Former MTV host and Veejay Ananda Lewis dead at 52

Originally Posted by Count Dooku
Is that supposed to be one of MTV's first Black VJs?
Originally Posted by DJariya
Downtown Julie Brown and Bill Bellamy were there before her.
J.J. Jackson before that. He was an OG VJ.
Old 06-12-25 | 07:39 AM
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Re: Former MTV host and Veejay Ananda Lewis dead at 52

Originally Posted by Josh-da-man
Read about her health struggles a while back, and it's really heartbreaking that she went the woo-woo route instead of getting actual treatment that could have saved her life.
I had an acquaintance who did the preemptive mastectomy a few years ago because it ran in her family. She still developed breast cancer and is going through chemotherapy right now. I'm sad that Ananda regretted her decision, but there's also a quality of life aspect to it that I can respect.
Old 06-12-25 | 11:36 AM
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Re: Former MTV host and Veejay Ananda Lewis dead at 52

This one hurts.

Regardless of your musical preference back in the 90s... you knew her name.
Old 06-12-25 | 01:40 PM
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Re: Former MTV host and Veejay Ananda Lewis dead at 52

Originally Posted by devilshalo
I had an acquaintance who did the preemptive mastectomy a few years ago because it ran in her family. She still developed breast cancer and is going through chemotherapy right now. I'm sad that Ananda regretted her decision, but there's also a quality of life aspect to it that I can respect.
My aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer young. She beat it once and it came back over a decade later. She beat it again and had a double mastectomy. It came back over a decade later again. She’s was 67 (72 now) and didn’t want to do the chemo or radiation again. It was too much for a third time so she’s just going to live her life. Fuck cancer.

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