‘Days of Our Lives’ star Suzanne Rogers reveals she has stage 2 cancer

Days of Our Lives star Suzanne Rogers has opened up about her cancer diagnosis.

The soap opera veteran, who has spent more than five decades playing farm girl–turned–shrewd businesswoman Maggie Horton, recently revealed her cancer battle during a conversation with TV Insider. Rogers, 82, learned the news earlier this year upon realizing that something “wasn’t quite right” with her body. After a series of tests, including an MRI, a PET scan, and a biopsy, the actress was diagnosed with stage 2 colorectal cancer.

“[My doctor] said, ‘You have cancer and you have to start treatment.’ It was all a shock,” Rogers recalled. “I think I was in a shock for several days because I take pretty good care of myself. But he said, ‘It’s a good thing you caught it in time.'”

After wrapping shooting on Days in June, Rogers began a treatment plan that entailed daily radiation and chemo every day for six weeks. The actress noted that the show taking a summer hiatus worked in her favor, since she didn’t have to be conspicuously absent from set. But while she kept the battle private from her fans, Rogers leaned on her Days of Our Lives family for support.

“It was scary,” she said. “When I had to go see a doctor, one of [my costars] would go with me because you get to a point where once they say cancer, you don’t hear anything else.”

Rogers said she felt especially supported by Linsey Godfrey, who plays her onscreen daughter, Sarah Horton, a cancer survivor who was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma at 18.

“I had to have an infusion, and it takes about an hour and a half, so Linsey sat there with me and held my hand while I was having it,” Rogers recalled. “We would go out to lunch or dinner with Paul Telfer [who plays Xander Kiriakis] and Linsey’s daughter, Aleda. I knew I could count on them, so it was a lovely experience on and off the set. We really feel like a family.”

Rogers completed treatment on July 31 and is now preparing for her return to set.

A spokesperson for Days of Our Lives assured Entertainment Weekly that her absence from the show will be minimal. “We are delighted that Suzanne has come through this challenge with her trademark grace and strength,” the spokesperson said. “Fans will be glad to know that Maggie will remain a constant presence in Salem.”

Rogers, who is the longest-running actor on an American soap, said she is “feeling really good” about her return to the show. Though she is coping with some nerves, she said it’s the same anxiety she feels “any time I get scripts because I want to do my very best,” clarifying that it has nothing to do with her illness.

Elsewhere in her interview with TV Insider, Rogers assured fans that they have nothing to worry about when it comes to Maggie’s signature red locks. “I didn’t lose my hair,” she said. “I guess because I was taking the chemo pills. I’m sure there’ll be people that are saying, ‘Well, she didn’t really have cancer,’ but you know what? I really don’t care what people say. I know what I’ve gone through, and I’ve come out on the other side, so that’s all I care about.”

Rogers went on to express some relief over finally sharing her struggle and diagnosis, noting that she’s well aware that her absence has sparked speculation about her future on the daytime soap.

“My sister, who checks in with me two or three times a day, said there’s been some things on Facebook that said that I had retired and I had left the show,” she said. “None of that is true. I don’t want to upset anybody, but I want them to know what’s going on.”

Indeed, rumors had been swirling about Rogers’ potential retirement, but a spokesperson for Days of Our Lives shut down the speculation this past summer. 

“This could not be further from the truth,” a representative for the show told EW in July. “Maggie and Suzanne are integral to the show’s history, present storylines, and now, on the heels of our pickup, the future! Neither are going anywhere.”

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Rogers has been a core member of the Days of Our Lives cast since 1973, when she first appeared as a farm girl recovering from a car accident that killed her parents. Maggie has come a long way since then, overcoming paralysis, addiction, and even her own “murder” over the course of Rogers’ 52 years on the show. The character’s struggles with sobriety helped Rogers earn a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in 1979. 

The most recent season saw Maggie helping her daughter Sarah pick up the pieces of her life after an acrimonious divorce from Xander. Days of Our Lives, which originally premiered in 1965, is set to celebrate its 60th anniversary this November. Earlier this year, Peacock announced that Days has been picked up for two more seasons.