5 Inspirational Celebrities Who Are Breast Cancer Survivors

Since awareness is the best way to prevent breast cancer, we love the dozens (seriously, dozens) of celebrity women who have publicly shared their battle. Knowledge is power and we want to give some serious credit to these brave survivors for sharing their story, in hopes of encouraging other women to be proactive about self-breast exams and yearly mammograms.

Rita Wilson

Diagnosed: age 58

"I share this to educate others that a second opinion is critical to your health," she said. "You have nothing to lose if both opinions match up for the good, and everything to gain if something that was missed was found. I hope this will encourage others to get a second opinion and trust their instincts if something doesn't 'feel' right."

Melissa Ethridge

Diagnosed: age 43

When the singer took the stage at the 2005 Grammy Awards with a show-stopping rendition of Janis Joplin's "Piece of My Heart," she famously performed bald – a reminder of her October 2004 breast cancer diagnosis.

Christina Applegate

Diagnosed: age 36

After watching her mother battle cancer twice, Applegate was diagnosed with breast cancer in August 2008 and underwent a double mastectomy.

Giuliana Rancic

Diagnosed: age 37

"The second I heard 'cancer,' I just remember my head went down, the ground went away, and I just dropped through the earth, and I was just dropping, falling," Rancic has said.

Sheryl Crow

Diagnosed: age 44

"I've had so many people [say to] me, 'Gosh, you know, everything's really gone wrong for you this year,' and it took me going through that to realize that everything really went right for me," she said on The Oprah Winfrey Show. "It brought me to this point where I am now, and I really feel like I have a lot of clarity."

Image via People.com