Hollyoaks’ Ali Bastian shares ‘brutal’ treatment after cancer that ‘took its toll’
Hollyoaks star Ali Bastian was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer in 2024 and had to take 'brutal' medication after she underwent chemotherapy and a mastectomy
Hollyoaks’ Ali Bastian shares ‘brutal’ treatment after cancer that ‘took its toll’(Image: Getty Images)
Soap star Ali Bastian has shared how taking “brutal” medication as part of her post-breast cancer treatment took a “toll” on her. The Hollyoaks star was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer in 2024 after finding a lump she had initially thought was a blocked milk duct.
The actress underwent both chemotherapy and a mastectomy. In March 2025, she revealed that she was cancer free but still had to take medication to prevent the illness from returning.
“It’s so brutal,” Ali has now said. She added that she was “conflicted” about it because of how the treatment affected her. “You’re so grateful it exists, but at the same time it really takes its toll on your body, your mind, everything.”
Ali battled cancer in 2024(Image: Instagram)
She underwent chemotherapy and a mastectomy(Image: alibastianinsta/Instagram)
Her admission was part of an interview she gave to The Sun, where she also said that cancer “affects every facet of your life” including your “identity”. Ali shared that she “felt more broken down” than she’d ever felt when she was finishing her chemo treatment and had the mastectomy. The actress said she began to question who she was because she felt “completely stripped back”.
She has previously opened up about possibly undergoing further surgery after her mastectomy to reconstruct the breast. Talking to Giovanna Fletcher on her Happy Mum, Happy Baby podcast, Ali shared: “I couldn’t have a reconstruction at the time because we always knew I’d have to have radiotherapy. At some point there’ll be some kind of something.
“Initially I was like 100 per cent it’s happening. But now, I want to have the conversations and talk through what the options are, but I’m not actually married to any of them at the moment.”
At the time, she told Giovanna that she sometimes felt much better than she thought she would, in part because she had a “good prosthetic”. She said: “In some ways better than I would have imagined actually, even the sort of gearing up for a mastectomy. I’ve got a really good prosthetic that makes a big difference. It means in clothes I feel normal. It’s bright pink. It makes me happy.”
Ali said she did consider having surgery to reconstruct the breast(Image: Instagram)
But she is not so sure anymore and uses a prosthetic(Image: Instagram)
She later continued: “I quite like that it doesn’t look like a chicken fillet, like a pretend boob. It’s something that I could show the kids as well because it’s so visually appealing.
“It was one of those little bridging things. I just keep saying to myself really,” she said before adding: “‘I’m still under construction, I’ve been through a lot, I’m healing at the moment’.”
Ali played Becca Dean in Hollyoaks from 2001 to 2007. She was also a regular star on Doctors in 2019, but left to have her children, both girls. Her own mother died in 2023, and Ali shared online that she tried to put off her grief while she battled cancer, but that didn’t work.
She wrote on social media last year: “Grief, I attempted to put on hold whilst I managed a grueling treatment regime now comes in waves, sometimes crashing, sometimes tidal, rarely gentle… but I try to go gently with myself as I navigate life after cancer and life without you.”