Giuliana Rancic didn't know just how strong she was until she got breast cancer.
But last month, the 37-year-old E! News anchor announced that she would be undergoing a double lumpectomy to remove early-stage breast cancer.
"The word I kept seeing over and over again was 'strong,'" she told Parade magazine. "'Be strong, you're strong.' That word has never meant so much to me as it has this past month. I owe that all to the people behind me."
So with the support of hubby Bill, her family, friends and fans, how is Giuliana doing post-surgery? "I'm good. I'm hanging in there," she said. "I have good days and bad days, but so far so good. I'm very optimistic and I'm just happy to have caught it early."
"I really think that's the most important thing," she added. "Early detection means so much." (Giuliana's cancer was discovered during a mammogram required by her doctor so she could move forward with IVF treatments.)
She explained why she wanted to let the world know about her cancer scare. "I thought, 'OK, I guess a couple of people are going to talk about this,' but I couldn't believe it. The outpouring and love and support was just beyond anything I could have ever imagined," she told Parade. "I really relied on a lot of those messages I was receiving through Twitter and email and through blogs right before the surgery and the week I was recovering. I know it sounds so cliche, but I think it helped me recover quicker and it got me in better spirits."
Giuliana told Parade she and Bill have no regrets about putting their lives on display. "We just felt like with every trial and tribulation we've put on this show, people have told us how much they learned from it and how it made them feel less alone," she said. "We thought that was a pretty incredible opportunity. The fact that we can help people through our show is an honor. We're happy to do it and it's something that we continue to do. We really are like open books. It's worth it to kind of sacrifice some of my personal life to help others."