Housewives Star Battling Cancer

Desperate Housewives star Kathryn Joosten, who plays Mrs McCluskey, is facing her second battle with lung cancer.

 

A two-time Emmy winner thanks to the popular show, the 69-year-old actress was told the news at an annual check-up. Following her first diagnosis back in 2001, she had been in remission and stopped smoking.

 

In an interview with US magazine People, she said: "My other goal is to try to erase some of the stigma of lung cancer. The first thing everyone says is: 'Did you smoke?' Yeah, I smoked. I smoked because Bette Davis said it was very glamorous. I smoked because it was seen everywhere and done everywhere."

 

She added: "I got addicted because the tobacco companies add additives to their tobacco to make it more addictive. I'm damned mad at all of them. But that stigma has to go away."

 

A renowned character actress, Kathryn Joosten's also famous for playing the secretary to Martin Sheen's President Bartlett in acclaimed drama The West Wing.