'His insides were melting': Terry Crews' wife Rebecca reveals his despair when she told him she had breast cancer
Right before the devastating coronavirus (COVID-19) was declared an international pandemic, singer Rebecca Crews, wife of Terry Crews, found herself under another health scare. But it was her husband Terry who was more shaken by the news, as Rebecca revealed in an exclusive with People.
The 54-year-old singer was diagnosed with Stage 1 Breast Cancer only a few weeks ago, following which she has already undergone a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery. And while her husband Terry has 'stepped up a lot', finding out about her diagnosis was really hard on him. The 'America’s Got Talent' host, 51, was the first person Rebecca told the news after finding out herself and he was working out at the couple's home gym at the time. "My husband has watched me go through a lot, but the look on his face … he looked at me like I was going to die,” Rebecca recounted to the outlet. “He told me it felt like his insides were melting. I said, ‘I need you to be strong for me,’ and he said, ‘Okay’ and hugged me, but I think he needed that hug.”
Crews underwent surgery on March 3 and Terry was able to join her in the hospital as it was one of the few days he gets off from his busy schedule. The recovery period has been difficult for her owing to the pandemic lockdown and risky follow up treatments. And even though she shares how difficult it has been to differentiate post-mastectomy symptoms from those of COVID-19, as both induce chest pressure, Terry has really helped in making things easier for her as the family practices social distancing and Rebecca continues to sleep in the guest room as a precaution, Terry is doing everything else for her. “I have to give him his props because he’s been cooking for me, helping me bathe, and just really stepping up,” Rebecca told People, adding: “I tease him all the time, I’m like, did I have to get cancer to be treated like this?!"
Rebecca and Terry are easily one of the biggest fan-favorite celebrity couples in pop culture, but not everything has been sunshine and butterflies in the couple's marriage in the past. In an exclusive with MEA WorldWide (MEAWW), Rebecca had opened up about her song 'Breathless' which even though upbeat on the surface, reveals the intense pain and vulnerability she once felt out of a fight with her husband.
“When I wrote that song, my husband and I had this huge fight, and it had to do with our future, it had to do with the direction we were trying to go as a couple. And I decided that I didn’t want to do it his way anymore, I wanted my way," Rebecca has shared with MEAWW, adding: "I spent my 20s and a lot of my 30s just cheerleading whatever it was that he was trying to do. But he got a little used to that, he got a little too comfortable. So I said, ‘Look Boo, this has gotta be a two-way street, it’s gotta be about us, and there are some things that I want that aren’t on your little vision board, and they need to go on there or you need to go.’ He got really, really upset with me and I think it’s because I frightened him."
But all's well with the couple now as they are self-quarantined with their two youngest kids, Isiah and Winfrey, and Terry has been helping out any way he can, as Rebecca recovers from post-surgery symptoms. Rebecca also opened up to People about her journey with cancer that started 12 years ago where she can a small pre-cancerous lump removed from her right breast. Her mother underwent the same last year and apart from that there hasn't been a history of cancer in her family. But Rebecca has always chosen to get regular mammograms and ultrasound done during her annual health check-ups.
It was during her last checkup a few weeks ago when she has a 'gut feeling' to get an ultrasound even though her mammogram came back clear. That revealed a small swollen bump in her right breast which required a biopsy and she was in her driveway as she heard her results. “After the call, I had this clear vision of myself stepping through a door, and on the other side of this door, the sun was shining brightly and I was very happy,” she told the outlet. “I just had this sense that I was going to be okay.”
Speaking to the outlet about her diagnosis and what it has taught her, Rebecca said: “Though it was Stage 1, you’re overwhelmed with fear, like cancer is this all-consuming, all-powerful evil entity." And even as she lay on the examination table to get tested for biopsy, she recalls: "I just thought to myself, ‘Okay, if they find something, Rebecca, just cut it off and reconstruct it,.
Cancer-free and resting at home in Pasadena, California, Rebecca told the outlet: “I’m doing a little soul searching and asking myself what’s important to me. But other than that … my life is in a good balance, and I have so many happy, exciting things to focus on.”