Helbig, who has amassed a following of more than 2.6 million YouTube subscribers, is best known for creating the web series DailyGrace in the early 2010s, in which she posted quippy comedy videos about topics like dating advice and achieving the perfect bikini body. After leaving the show in 2013, she pivoted to her own channel and projects, before slowing down as she dealt with burnout, she said.
The vlogger said she learned about her diagnosis of triple positive breast cancer about a month ago after mentioning a lump in her left breast to her gynecologist at her annual visit. “I really had to like talk myself into bringing it up to her in the appointment because I thought that I was just a stupid little girl that didn’t know how girl bodies worked,” Helbig continued. “And thank God I listened to that little voice inside of me that finally got the courage to bring it up to her, because she also thought it was abnormal.”
After rapid mammogram, ultrasound and biopsy tests, Helbig heard her diagnosis. Triple positive breast cancer means the breast tumor cells have estrogen, progesterone and a high level of HER2 receptors, according to the National Cancer Institute. Helbig said she will be treated with six rounds of chemotherapy, surgery and hormonal therapy. She said she is encouraged that medical professionals and cancer specialists have told her the cancer is “super treatable” and “highly beatable.”
Helbig said she is still able to laugh through her serious situation. “I’m going to need comedy through this process. Comedy, jokes, laughing, that all really helps me process very difficult things,” Helbig added. “Not from a place of denial or deflection about the reality, but rather from a place of aiding me.”
Helbig said she has been texting and talking to her friend Hank Green, a fellow YouTube star and best-selling author who said in May that he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. John Green, Hank’s older brother who also makes YouTube videos and writes books, commented on Helbig’s video with an empathetic and lighthearted message.
“Kirkland Brand Hank Green here just to say that we love you and [Elliot Morgan] and are thinking of you and your whole awesome family of supporters and caregivers,” the “Fault in Our Stars” author wrote. “I’m so sorry you’re going through this” but “there’s no but to that sentence. I’m just sorry. This is where I would insert a heart emoji but I’m 45 years old.”
In closing her video, Helbig said she plans to continue working on “This Might Get Weird,” her weekly podcast with Mamrie Hart, but she needs to “play it by ear.” “The other immediate thing that you kind of learn in this process is that you cannot plan for the future,” she said. “You have to take it one step at a time, and this was the next step for me.”