Elle Macpherson had breast cancer and refused chemotherapy

Elle Macpherson talks about her secret battle against breast cancer.

The Australian supermodel, 60, revealed to Australia's Women's weekly newspaper In an interview published on Monday, September 2, she told the magazine that she was diagnosed with the disease after undergoing a lumpectomy seven years ago.

Macpherson said she was advised to have a mastectomy, chemotherapy, hormone therapy and breast reconstruction, but she chose not to treat the cancer with traditional medicine.

Instead, the model and actress opted for “an intuitive, heart-led, holistic approach” after praying and meditating on a beach in Miami.

“It was a shock, it was unexpected, it was confusing, it was daunting in many ways,” she said. “And it really gave me the opportunity to look deep within myself to find a solution that worked for me. … I realized that I was going to need my own truth, my belief system, to support me through this. And that's what I did. So it was a wonderful exercise in being true to myself, trusting myself, and trusting the nature of my body and the course of action that I had chosen to take.”

In her new memoirs ElleMacpherson wrote further about her decision to treat cancer holistically.

“Saying no to conventional medical solutions was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. But saying no to my own inner feelings would have been even harder,” she wrote in an excerpt published by Women's weekly newspaper.

“Sometimes a genuine decision from the heart doesn't make sense to others… but it doesn't have to,” she added. “People thought I was crazy, but I knew I had to make a decision that was truly resonant with me. For me, that meant dealing with both the emotional and physical factors associated with breast cancer. It was time for deep, inner reflection. And that took courage.”

Macpherson said her sons, Flynn26, and Cy21, had mixed reactions to her choice of treatment. Her father, Macpherson's ex-partner Arpad BussonShe too was skeptical about their holistic approach.

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“Cy just thought chemo kills you. And that's why he never wanted me to do it because he thought it would be the kiss of death,” she wrote in the memoir. Women's weekly newspaper“Flynn, who is more conventional, was not at all happy with my choice.”

Macpherson said Busson “didn't agree with what I did” but supported her nonetheless. “He wrote to me to tell me how proud he was of the bravery I showed,” she wrote.

Seven years after her diagnosis, Macpherson told Women's weekly newspaper that she had overcome cancer.

“Traditionally you would say I'm in clinical remission, but I would say I'm perfectly healthy. And I am,” she said.