Julia Louis-Dreyfus explains why she made her cancer diagnosis public

Julia Louis-Dreyfus joins the cast and showrunner of the television series Veep for a discussion at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Music Film Interactive Festival 2017 in Austin, Texas, U.S., March 13, 2017. (Reuters)

Julia Louis-Dreyfus chose to reveal her breast cancer diagnosis before the media got involved.

“Originally, I’ll be honest with you, something like this journey I’d been on, I normally wouldn’t share such a private thing publicly,” the actress told Entertainment Tonight. “I knew it would get out there because I knew we had to shut down production [on “Veep”] for a number of months in order to accommodate my situation.”

“So then I thought, ‘Well, I’m just going to embrace this and attack it and try to do it with a sense of humor,” the comedian, 57, added. “I was really pleased with the reaction.”

In September 2017, Louis-Dreyfus shared her news with a short note on social media.

In the following months, Louis-Dreyfus underwent chemotherapy – finishing up treatment in January of 2018 with the support of her two sons.

The next month, the “Seinfeld” alumna had surgery and was feeling “ready to rock” after the procedure.

In the summer of 2018, Louis-Dreyfus began shooting the seventh and final season of “Veep.”

She’ll also receive the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on October 21 in Washington, D.C.

This article originally appeared in the New York Post.