Beloved Australian fashion designer Camilla Franks was diagnosed with breast cancer last year, just months after giving birth to her first child, daughter Luna Gypsy, in January 2018. Now, Franks has revealed to Studio 10 that she will have her ovaries removed following her intensive chemotherapy and a double mastectomy.
“I still haven’t finished my treatment, I’ve still got to have the ovaries out and I’m not happy about that and it makes me sad,” the 42-year-old designer said. “I resent cancer in some regards for stealing the opportunity to have another child and I didn’t realise how much I wanted another one until I was told I probably can’t have another one.”
She added, “But I also realise how bloody blessed I am to have one.”
Camilla shares Luna Gypsy Jones with her fiancé, Welsh musician JP Jones, who she met two decades ago at a nightclub in London. The couple is expected to wed in 2020.
RELATED: Camilla Franks Talks Exclusively To Marie Claire
Camilla’s bold positivity has become something of a signature, not just for her, but her brand. Her colour-splashed kaftans are beloved by Beyonce, Oprah and JLo, plus a loyal “tribe” of followers who’ve been by Franks’ side through every up and down of the past 15 years.
“Luna’s arrival was wild and incredible,” Franks previously told marie claire, who conceived her baby naturally at 41. “From the moment we met Luna she brought unparalleled happiness – and she’s deepened the love between JP and I.”
It was while feeding her newborn that Franks discovered a lump in her breast. “It kept growing. I was told over and over that it was mastitis, but,” she said, “it wasn’t mastitis.” Eventually, Franks was delivered the earth-shattering news that she had breast cancer. Franks speaks candidly about the three waves of emotion that have accompanied her illness: first shock, denial and terror; then a period of fight and survival – “You put on your warrior hat and treat cancer like a job” – and finally a sense of self-exploration and acceptance.
It was during the second phase that Franks gathered her closest friends to watch Jones shave her head. “It was confronting and scary but it was the one thing I had control over,” says Franks steadily. As her waist-length locks fell to the ground, she felt like she’d been stripped back to her most raw and authentic – and, in a strange way, her most beautiful. “If it wasn’t for what it represented, I’d actually love my new hair,” she says of her dyed blonde crop. “Actually, I secretly do love it!”
“Cancer is part of my story now. I’m willing to accept that – and only those who have endured this raw fear and threat will understand what it means to live with it,” she said.
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