Baywatch alum Nicole Eggert is at a panic-inducing step in her ongoing breast cancer battle.
Eggert, 52, was diagnosed with stage II cribriform carcinoma breast cancer in January, recently revealing via Instagram that she had a “full and complete response” to treatment.
“It’s really weird because this is what’s hard about the journey, is that [in] that moment was fantastic, but now this waiting period for the next step is very panicky,” Eggert exclusively told Us Weekly at the Monday, August 26, premiere of After Baywatch: Moment in the Sun. “I think that [the cancer’s] back. In your mind, you’re like, ‘Oh, my, God. What did I just feel?’”
She continued, “It’s so much of the gray area that nobody really understands. That waiting and that unknown is really the true test.”
Eggert produced After Baywatch, a documentary chronicling the popularity of the iconic beach show, during her treatment.
“[Working on After Baywatch] actually helped me quite a bit because it gave me something else to think about because you can get caught up in just thinking about your health,” she told Us on Monday. “So my 13-year-old and this [documentary] kept me on my toes.”
Eggert, who rose to fame as Summer Quinn on Baywatch, is the mother of daughters Dilyn, 26, and Keegan, 13. The actress previously told Us that Dilyn and Keegan had been her “rocks” amid her cancer battle.
“They have been so amazing through all of this because it’s strange,” Eggert told Us in March. “For Keegan, I was worried about, maybe, she’d be embarrassed that her mom is bald [and that] her mom really sticks out, but she’s not at all. She’s proud.”
She added at the time, “They’re right by my side. They’re giving me the most grace and checking on me constantly and asking me how I’m doing and we’re really just loving on each other really hard.”
While Dilyn and Keegan are proud of how their mom is handling her health battle, Eggert is equally proud of her legacy on Baywatch and the new documentary.
“It’s exciting to see everybody else’s energy about it and that it’s being well-received. It’s really fun,” she gushed on Monday, adding that she made the project to give the rest of the cast their flowers. “I think a lot of people watch actors and think that their life has just been rosy. And that like, ‘Oh, how would you feel sorry for that beautiful person that was on a TV show?’ But life has twists and turns … and I think it’s just really nice to recognize and celebrate all of that with people in their real journeys.”
For Eggert, her “main takeaway” from the show is that “you can’t run away from things.”
“They don’t disappear,” she told Us at the premiere. “If you run away — I tried to run away and that doesn’t work. Sometimes you gotta roll with it, and you roll with the punches.”
After Baywatch: Moment in the Sun is currently streaming on Hulu.
With reporting by Mariel Turner