Maria Menounos’ scars make her “smile.”
Two months after revealing her pancreatic cancer battle, the entertainment journalist showed her surgery scars in a bikini selfie via Instagram Sunday.
“I look back on surgery earlier this year and am grateful for the strength god blessed me with to get through and of course all of the beautiful humans that he sent to help me too!” Menounos, 45, captioned the bathing suit snap.
“Now I see the scars that I sunscreen up carefully to protect and I smile ❤️,” she continued.
The Daytime Emmy winner grinned in the social media upload while standing barefoot in her bathroom in a brown two-piece and white cover-up.
Menounos’ Instagram followers praised the picture in the comments.
“Glad you wear your battle scars proudly, as do I. You look beautiful,” one fan gushed.
Another added, “Those aren’t scars Maria those are Warrior wounds always remember that.”
Menounos was diagnosed with stage 2 of the disease in January, undergoing surgery the following month to remove a tumor, part of her pancreas, her spleen, a large fibroid and 17 lymph nodes.
The former “Extra” correspondent hid hear health struggles from the public — and her baby-to-be’s surrogate — at the time, waiting until June to speak to People about her recovery.
“I had that moment where I thought I was a goner,” she revealed. “But I’m OK because I caught this early enough.”
In a “Not Skinny But Not Fat” podcast episode last week, Menounos recalled her tumor doubling in size while doctors said she was “fine” pre-diagnosis.
“The radiologist went back and he was able to see it and do an addendum and say, ‘Yes, now with the knowledge it was there, we’re able to see it is there,'” she told listeners.
Menounos also noted that she believes stress caused both her pancreatic cancer and the benign brain tumor she had removed in 2017.
The actress is currently expecting her first child with husband Keven Undergaro after a decade of fertility struggles.
The couple, who have been married since 2017, revealed in April that their upcoming arrival is a baby girl.
