After Clea Shearer, star of Netflix’s “Get Organized with the Home Edit,” announced last week she has breast cancer, her best friend and co-star Joanna Teplin revealed she is “doing well” and happy to use her platform to help others.
Teplin said Shearer, who had a double mastectomy last Friday for stage 2 breast cancer, is recovering.
“She’s doing well,” Teplin told TODAY on Monday. “She is just so strong and such a pillar of strength that I can’t imagine anyone tackling cancer the way that she has and is.”
“The surgery was very successful, and she’s home now just waiting to find out any next steps,” she added.
Shearer, 40, and Teplin were on TODAY in February, the same month Shearer noticed a lump on her breast. She told Teplin she found something and wasn’t sure what it was, prompting her to try and get an appointment with her obstetrician. The office couldn’t fit her in for a long time, so she contacted her general practitioner, who helped her undergo a mammogram, which led to an ultrasound and an emergency triple biopsy.
“Thank God she’s such an advocate for herself and she is now becoming an advocate for so many others to self-test and be aware from the start,” Teplin said.
Shearer and Teplin have gained a devout following for organizing celebrities’ closets, which has enabled Shearer to reach millions of fans. She has been open about what she’s going through, posting updates on Instagram stories.
“She has the best attitude,” Teplin said. “I can’t imagine having the attitude that she has, but she’s like, ‘If it’s going to happen to someone, why not me?’ instead of ‘Why me?’ And because she’s able to have that fortitude and that way of thinking about it, she’s able to help so many other people.”
Teplin also says Shearer knows there’s a greater good that can be gained by speaking out.
“She felt like if she could do this for anybody and it could be there’s something to show for this horrible thing that she has to go through, then it was all worth being public for,” she said.
