Julia Louis-Dreyfus Found One Upside to Cancer

Her ‘Veep’ showrunner says without the hiatus, Louis-Dreyfus’ show would have seemed “out of touch.”

HBO's 'Veep' Will End With Season 7
Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Selina Meyer in 'Veep.' (HBO)

After Julia Louis-Dreyfus was diagnosed with breast cancer and had to go undergo grueling chemotherapy. She endured “debilitating nausea,” diarrhea, an inability to keep food down and sores that covered her face and the inside of her mouth, according to a new profile in the New Yorker.

“They definitely betrayed me,” Louis-Dreyfus told the New Yorker of her breasts. “It was like, I thought I knew these.

The one positive was that her hiatus from her Emmy Award-winning show Veep allowed the writers to “rethink the season they’d written.”

“Whatever side you’re on, I think we can agree that Trump, post his State of the Union speech, last January, has amped up the Trumpness,” David Mandel, the showrunner of Veep, said. “Had we shot the show we had written—which I thought was good at the time—and then aired it this past April or May, I believe it would have seemed out of touch.”

Mandel added, dryly: “What I’m saying is the cancer was a good thing.”

The InsideHook Newsletter.

News, advice and insights for the most interesting person in the room.