A rarity for Hollywood, Academy Award-winner Kathy Bates invited CBS SUNDAY MORNING's Lee Cowan for a visit to her doctor as she battles Lymphedema, a debilitating and potentially disfiguring disease, stemming from her breast cancer surgery in 2012. The interview will be broadcast Sunday, April 17 (9:00 AM, ET) on the CBS Television Network.
The disease is the result of doctors removing 19 lymph nodes during Bates' double mastectomy. Now, excess fluid collects in her arms, requiring her to wear a compression sleeve to minimize the swelling.
"I went berserk, I went nuts," Bates tells Cowan of being diagnosed with the chronic disease. "And for a long time after that, I was really, really angry. I just turned into another person. I just felt betrayed, I felt enraged."
Today, Bates manages the disease with regular visits to her doctor and has since become a spokesperson for the Lymphatic Education & Research Network, so she can help others.
"I didn't know what I was saying yes to and the more I learn about it, the more angry I am," Bates says. "I feel I have to do something about it. If I can use my celebrity for something real, then that's what I want to do."
In addition to opening up about her own health battle, Bates talks with Cowan about her long career in Hollywood, her childhood and the doubters who said she wasn't attractive enough to make it as a real actress. She says she was told her upper arms were too heavy and that she had a more maternal look, so she wouldn't make it until she was older. The criticism stung, she admits.
"Yeah, yeah, that hurt my feelings a lot," Bates tells Cowan. "But it all kind of turned out to be right."
CBS SUNDAY MORNING is broadcast Sundays (9:00-10:30 AM, ET) on the
CBS Television Network. Rand Morrison is the executive producer.
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