Comedian and actor Magda Szubanski, known for her roles in the TV series Kath and Kim and the film Babe, has announced her diagnosis with a rare and aggressive form of blood cancer.
The 64-year-old resident of Melbourne, Australia shared on social media that she has begun treatment for stage four mantle cell lymphoma.
It is a “rare and fast-moving blood cancer”, she said.
However, Szubanski conveyed a message of hope, saying: “It’s serious, but I’ve started one of the best treatments available (the Nordic protocol), and I’m lucky to be getting absolutely world-class care here in Melbourne.”
She added: “I won’t sugar-coat it: it’s rough. But I’m hopeful.
“I’m being lovingly cared for by friends and family, my medical team is brilliant, and I’ve never felt more held by the people around me.”
Szubanski said that she had shaved her head before appearing in a video “in anticipation of it all falling out in a couple of weeks”. That was an apparent reference to undergoing chemotherapy.
Mantle cell lymphoma is a rare type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, according to Cancer Research UK.
It makes up just 5 per cent of all non-Hodgkin lymphoma cases. About 600 people in the UK are diagnosed with mantle cell lymphoma each year.
Szubanski received international acclaim for her role as the farmer’s wife Esme Hoggett in the 1995 movie Babe.
The film, which is based on a book by Dick King-Smith and tells the tale of a pig that wants the job of a sheepdog, was nominated for seven Academy Awards.
Szubanski reprised the role in the 1998 sequel, Babe: Pig in the City.
She also played sports-loving Sharon Strzelecki in the Australian sitcom Kath and Kim. The series ran from 2002 to 2005 and inspired an American remake with the same name.
Szubanski voiced the role of Miss Viola in the animated films Happy Feet in 2006 and Happy Feet Two in 2011. Both films, about a penguin that loves to dance, were produced and directed by George Miller.
Szubanski was born in Liverpool, England, on April 12, 1961, and moved to Melbourne with her family in 1966.
