The model says an urgent mammogram and biopsy led to her diagnosis.
Janice Dicksinson has been diagnosed with breast cancer, ET confirms.
The 61-year-old supermodel says she learned of her prognosis two weeks ago after she underwent an urgent mammogram and biopsy. "It's hard for me to say this, but I have been diagnosed with breast cancer," she tells the Daily Mail. "When the doctor found the lump it hurt, it became quite painful when you touch it, that's the point when I knew this is serious, when the doctor touched this little lump in my right breast, about the size of a pea, and I went bingo, I have cancer."
Dickinson says upon learning of her diagnosis, she retreated to a "world of fantasy."
"I kept saying to myself, 'you're just processing this,'" she recalls. "You can't be brave and fierce and all the things that people know you from -- reality television, from the fashion industry, from being the world's first supermodel, from being a judge, from being a writer, a photographer, from being an AIDS activist."
While Dickinson admits that she "got very scared" upon hearing she had breast cancer, the former America's Next Top Model judge says she plans to fight this and "stick around for a long, long time."
"I am not gonna let that define me, the fear," she insists. "I'm going to get through this. I'll be just fine kiddo."
"I had to find the courage I possess as a woman, that we all have as women and then I had to put my chin up and my shoulders back and take it moment by moment."
When ET last spoke with Dickinson in February in regard to her ongoing legal battle with Bill Cosby, she expressed how grateful she is to have her family around during trying times. "I have the love and support of my fiance, Rocky [Gerner], and my children," she said.
Starting April 6, The Doctors will be following Dickinson's journey through all her treatments and procedures.
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