David A. Walega/WireImageAfter being diagnosed with the battle of her life, Janice Dickinson is crying for the first time in three decades.
The 61-year-old former America's Next Top Model judge and longtime supermodel revealed in late March that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer.
"This cancer does not define me," she said during an interview on The Doctors. "I used to obsess over image. I'm the world's first supermodel. I've been in front of cameras. I will never keep quiet when something is bothering me. I'm a fighter."
While she is moving forward with confidence and full medical force—including an approaching surgery—Dickinson is careful to note that the shocking diagnosis does scare her. "I'm not the type of woman to fall apart, but it's nothing to downplay," she added.
The initial diagnosis came after the brunette beauty started feeling a bit off.
"I haven't been feeling myself for the past several months. I knew something was wrong," she described. "My internist gave me the initial breast examination. She felt something. She said 'Something here doesn't feel right.' She felt a lump...I had been very regular with mammograms. After comprehensive tests from four specialists, the doctor said point blank, 'You are positive for cancer.'"
She was no stranger to a cancer diagnosis as her mother lost her battle to the disease at 79 years old in 1995.
"It's shocking, everything hit me at once. My mother died of cancer, so I know how bad I felt when I heard about my mother," Dickinson said tearfully. "My son broke down. Honestly I haven't cried in about 30 years, and just lately I've been very tearful because today I felt fear for the first time and I don't get scared. I kind of lost it."
Despite the emotional and physical toll of the discovery, Dickinson is determined to see herself and her family through life's most important milestones.
"I want to see my daughter walk down the aisle and I want grandchildren," she concluded. "And I want to get married with Rocky [Dr. Robert Gerner], my fiancé."