It was the message Meagan Good didn't want to hear.
After a routine visit to her gynecologist, the Harlem star was faced with a uterine cancer scare after her doctor discovered abnormal cells in her uterus. After experts ordered her to do a biopsy, the cells were removed.
Close to 10 years after the scary appointment, Meagan is partnering up with FORCE, SHARE, Black Health Matters and Eisai Inc. on the Spot Her campaign to help raise awareness about endometrial cancer, the most common type of uterine cancer. According to Meagan, education is a huge step towards prevention.
"It's just about being proactive instead of reactive and getting in front of it, instead of reacting to something," the 41-year-old shared. "I wasn't taking care of myself regularly."
Meagan, who recently split from her husband DeVon Franklin after nine years of marriage, is also focusing on her inner peace during this time of her life. "You have to have a tribe of people who are always going to cover you and pray for you and have you," she explained, "and that is massively important."
In an exclusive interview with E! News, Meagan explained how she is focused more than ever on her physical, mental and spiritual health. Keep reading for her message to women around the world.
E! News: You joined the Spot Her campaign to help raise awareness about endometrial cancer. How did this come to be?
Meagan Good: Part of it is when your life is aligning with the things that God's really put in your heart and who you really are as a human being. When you're putting those things back into the world, I think things come to you. And this for me is super important, because it is a conversation that we're not having and especially within the Black community. When you look at the statistics, it's only 53 percent of Black women who are diagnosed early. That's terrifying. For me, I just want to be a resource and a help.
E!: Do you have any advice for women who may be scared to broach this topic with their doctor, friends or family? What can they do to get that conversation started?
MG: You only have one life and we have to be our biggest advocates. If we're not going to look out for ourselves and take care of ourselves, who's going to do it for us? It may be an uncomfortable conversation, it might be even a scary conversation. You've got to educate, you've got to know what questions to ask and it's up to us to advocate for ourselves. The only way to do that is to have the information.
E!: Do you hope to bring this advocacy to your acting career? How do you relate to your character Camille in Amazon Prime's Harlem?
MG: You do have some of that with Camille. She's advocating for her community and against gentrification and about the different things that she believes in. With everything that I do, it's ultimately about using the platform that I've been given as an actress to advocate for something that's bigger than myself or something that I'm passionate about that I feel God has put on my heart.
E!: How does your faith tie into your everyday life?
MG: Faith is everything. It's how I start my day. It's how I end my night. It's how I go throughout the day. It's the base that I build everything on. When I get in the car, the first thing I listen to is something uplifting to put into my spirit because what we listen to does subconsciously land in our spirits. I try to make sure the first thing that hits me is something that's affirming and edifying and then after that, I'll listen to something a little bit ratchet. My faith is my compass.
E!: In a recent Instagram post, you talked about committing to your inner peace. What does that look like for you?
MG: Being unapologetic, being who I am and continuing to seek God and being bold and just not apologizing for the things that I need to do from my heart and from my spirit. It's definitely a different season, but my eyes are on God and that's my focus and in that, I'm not apologizing so much and accepting that not everybody's gonna see your heart and some people are dead set on misunderstanding you and that's okay. In a season, I think it's just me and God time, and figuring it out, walking it out and not judging myself and not being hard on myself.
(This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.)