Update!

E!'s Giuliana Rancic Reveals Battle With Breast Cancer

E! News anchor and Fashion Police host is in the early stages of a diagnosis; she'll undergo surgery this week and complete roughly six weeks of radiation

By Gina Serpe Oct 17, 2011 1:50 PMTags

Giuliana Rancic can always be counted on to report the news—but this morning, she broke some of her own. 

During an interview with the Today show Monday, the longtime E! News anchor revealed that she is in the early stages of battling breast cancer.  

The Fashion Police cohost said that she learned of her diagnosis while going through the preparation for IVF treatment, which she has openly chronicled on her Style network reality series, Giuliana & Bill.

"Through my attempt to get pregnant through IVF, we sadly found out that I have early stages of breast cancer," she said. "It's been a shock."

The news came about just days before she and husband Bill Rancic headed to a Colorado fertility center.

Just prior to beginning their third round of treatments, the doctor she was working with told her she needed to get a mammogram to ensure there was no possibility of cancer before attempting to get pregnant, as the hormones would accelerate any cancerous cells present in her body. After resisting, Rancic agreed to get one.

"I wasn't prepared to get a mammogram until I was 40 years old, like I'd been told. I never in my wildest dreams expected anything to be wrong."

The next day, she received a call back informing her that she needed to return to the hospital, as doctors had found "something."

"It was just a kick in the stomach," she said. As she was just a few days away from her trip, doctors gave her permission to go to Colorado and do the retrieval, but not to attempt to get pregnant until the results were back in.

As for when she was informed of her diagnosis, she said, "That was definitely the hardest day."

"I went into the hospital in L.A., when they came in to tell me, they said it pretty quickly, they just said, 'I'm sorry, you have breast cancer.' It's what you expect, but so much more, it was like, incredible instant sobbing and the world just crashed down around me. I couldn't believe it—36 years old, no family history? I couldn't believe it."

Rancic said the support she's received from her husband Bill during the past few weeks has "been everything."

"Bill is unbelievable. He lets me cry when I want to cry, he doesn't say, 'Hey, look at that person who's worse off than you are.' He just lets me feel what I'm feeling.

"I think a lot of us think we're invincible. But we have to start putting ourselves on the to-do list. I just want women out there to know if you can just find it early, you'll be OK. I found it early."

As for what's next for Giuliana, she'll be undergoing surgery sometime this week, and will follow that up with six weeks of radiation. After which, she said, she and Bill will resume their attempt at getting pregnant.

"I'm not gonna give up, I want that baby. And what's amazing is that baby will have saved my life…Now I truly believe that God was looking out for me. Had I gotten pregnant [earlier], a few years down the line I could be a lot sicker."

It goes without saying that the whole E! family wishes Giuliana a speedy recovery.

"On behalf of her E! family, we are sending our love and support to Giuliana and applaud her for sharing her recent breast cancer diagnosis in the hope that it will encourage women everywhere to take necessary and preventative measures," the network said in a statement.

"Giuliana has chosen to talk about her breast cancer on E! News tonight prior to her lumpectomy later this week. We are grateful that thanks to early detection, Giuliana is expected to have a swift and complete recovery."

(Originally published on Oct. 17, 2011 at 5:47 a.m. PT)