Appearing on 60 Minutes, Szubanski spoke with host Tracy Grimshaw about the reality of her diagnosis and the uncertainty surrounding what comes next.
Rather than avoiding the difficult questions, the actress confronted them directly.
“So, it’s almost sure that it will come back. It’s a question of ‘when’ and then ‘how bad?’” she said.
She explained that the median survival rate is currently around eight and a half years, while acknowledging that individual experiences can vary significantly.
“The median survival rate is eight-and-a-half years. So, I could go less, or I could go more,” Szubanski explained.
Despite the sobering reality, she maintained a sense of humor about her circumstances.
Rather than allowing the statistics to define her future, she joked about hoping to beat the odds.
It was a reflection of the attitude she has shown throughout her cancer journey — acknowledging the seriousness of what she is facing without allowing it to completely take over her identity.
She Knew Something Was Wrong
Looking back at the period before her diagnosis, Szubanski said she had a powerful feeling that something was not right.She described experiencing an intense sensation that felt as though her bones were “splitting.”
Doctors eventually connected those symptoms to inflammation in her bone marrow.
But before she had an explanation for what was happening physically, the fear had already begun affecting her emotionally.
Her worries became so intense that they started appearing in her dreams.
“It would wake me up in the middle of the night, literally wake up with my sort of dream voice saying ‘you’re dying, you’re dying’,” she recalled.
For Szubanski, those experiences became impossible to ignore.
“So, it was like, dude, there’s something wrong here. You know, there’s something really wrong.”
Eventually, medical tests provided the answer she had feared.
She was diagnosed with mantle cell lymphoma, a rare and aggressive blood cancer.
Working While Undergoing Treatment
Even while undergoing intensive treatment, Szubanski continued working.For someone dealing with the physical and emotional demands of cancer treatment, returning to professional responsibilities was not necessarily an easy task.
At one point, she had to film an advertisement for Australian health insurer Medibank.
She described the experience as deeply unusual.
“It was … a bizarre, bizarre experience,” she said.
The actress acknowledged just how difficult it was to work while dealing with her illness.
“It was freaking hard, but when I say it was doable, it was,” she explained.
Her comments offered a glimpse into the reality of trying to maintain some sense of normality while simultaneously going through an extraordinary health crisis.
For Szubanski, continuing to work was not necessarily about pretending nothing was happening.
It was simply another part of life that she was determined to keep moving forward with.
Cancer Has Touched Her Family Before
During the interview, Szubanski also opened up about the painful history of serious illness within her family.Cancer was not an entirely unfamiliar word in her household.
She revealed that her father was diagnosed with cancer when she was only six years old.
Her mother later battled pancreatic cancer.
And her sister has also been diagnosed with lymphoma.
That family history has given Szubanski an unusually personal understanding of how deeply serious illness can affect not only the person who receives a diagnosis but everyone around them.
Several members of her family have experienced major health battles, meaning cancer has been a recurring presence throughout her life.
Even while discussing something so serious, however, Szubanski managed to inject a little of her characteristic dark humor into the conversation.
She joked that her brother was the “f**king odd one out” after he suffered a heart attack and underwent a quintuple bypass.
It was a typically Szubanski way of confronting an otherwise painful subject — with honesty, humor and an unwillingness to allow fear to dominate every conversation.
A Difficult Road Ahead
Szubanski’s diagnosis has changed the way she looks at the future.Although she has reached remission, she understands that her particular form of cancer can return.
That uncertainty is perhaps one of the hardest parts of her journey.
There is no simple timetable and no guarantee about what the future will bring.
She knows that her cancer may return, but she also knows that statistics do not determine the exact course of one individual person’s life.
Her own words made that clear.
“I could go less, or I could go more.”
For now, she is continuing to live with that uncertainty.
And rather than hiding from it, she has chosen to speak openly about it.
Her willingness to discuss the reality of an incurable relapse has given fans a rare glimpse into the emotional side of living with a serious illness.
A Beloved Australian Star
For decades, Szubanski has been one of Australia’s most recognizable television personalities.Her work on Kath & Kim helped make her a household name, and she became known not only for her acting ability but also for her distinctive sense of humor and warmth.
Her cancer diagnosis therefore came as a shock to many of the people who had watched and admired her throughout her career.
But in discussing her illness publicly, Szubanski has shown another side of herself.
She has been willing to talk about fear.
She has been willing to discuss mortality.
And she has been willing to admit that she does not know exactly what the future holds.
At the same time, she continues to find moments of humor in circumstances that could easily become overwhelming.
That combination of honesty and humor has remained central to the way she has spoken about her health.
Magda Szubanski on Instagram: "Thank you beautiful Annabella Willis from SA for your stellar Book Week #homage to #sharon Chemo smackin’ me around right now and you really cheered me up. Bless you my darlin 🙏🩷🩷🩷🩷🏀 #netball #bookweek"
238K likes, 9,233 comments - magda_szubanski on August 30, 2025: "Thank you beautiful Annabella Willis from SA for your stellar Book Week #homage to #sharon Chemo smackin’ me around right now and you really cheered me up. Bless you my darlin 🙏🩷🩷🩷🩷🏀 #netball #bookweek".
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Facing the Unknown
For someone who has spent much of her life making other people laugh, the past year has brought a very different kind of challenge.Instead of scripts and television sets, there have been hospital rooms, medical treatments and difficult conversations about survival.
Instead of knowing what the next role will be, she has had to face a future that comes with uncertainty.
Yet Szubanski continues to move forward.
Her remission has given her a reason to hope, even while doctors have warned her that the cancer may eventually return.
She has not attempted to disguise the seriousness of the situation.
Instead, she has confronted it directly.
Her story is a reminder that behind the familiar faces seen on television are people with the same fears, uncertainties and vulnerabilities as everyone else.
Fame does not provide immunity from illness.
Money cannot guarantee certainty.
And a public career does not make difficult news any easier to hear.
What a person can control, however, is how they choose to face what comes next.
For Szubanski, that has meant honesty, humor and continuing to live her life despite the uncertainty surrounding her health.
She has spoken openly about the possibility of her cancer returning, while also making it clear that she intends to keep going and, hopefully, beat the odds.
As she continues navigating life after her diagnosis, fans are undoubtedly hoping that remission will give her many more years filled with the people, experiences and moments that matter most.
We’re wishing Magda Szubanski strength as she continues her journey and hoping she has many more happy, meaningful and healthy years ahead.
