Erin Andrews reveals how cervical cancer diagnosis made her and fiance Jarrett Stoll closer, plans to have kids

Updated


Erin Andrews is a survivor.

The 39-year-old Dancing With the Stars co-host covers Health magazine's July/August cover, stunning in a red bikini. In the candid interview, Andrews opens up about getting diagnosed with cervical cancer last September, and how it turned her relationship with her now fiance, hockey pro Jarrett Stoll, much more serious.

"It was a huge step for my relationship with my boyfriend at the time," Andrews says. "Because you don't know if a guy is going to want to sit in with an oncologist and see, 'OK, so this is your cervix, and this is your uterus, and we are cutting out this part...'"

WATCH: Erin Andrews Reveals Cervical Cancer Diagnosis That She Kept a Secret for 5 Months

"We hadn't even been discussing marriage," she continues. "We hadn't discussed babies! It really puts things on the fast track for you -- because you have an oncologist saying to you, 'We highly recommend that you guys do your embryos right now, freeze them.' I'm like, 'Hi, hon. I love you. I hope we're spending our lives together.' And he was amazing."

Andrews and 34-year-old Stoll got engaged in December. Andrews says the two are definitely planning to have kids, and that she had actually already frozen her eggs a couple of years back. She reveals she's also currently undergoing IVF shots.

"One thing I love my future husband for is that our oncologist said the smart thing to do would be to have some insurance waiting -- so we have frozen embryos because we've taken the steps," she says. "We don't know what the future entails. We actually had to push this photo shoot because I was in the middle of [the IVF cycle]. I'm doing all these [IVF] shots and in these bathing suits, and I was like, 'Yay, look at my pin marks!'"

"We went from football to everything that happened to freezing embryos—mixing hormones and wedding planning," she says about her roller coaster year with Stoll.

These days, Andrews is busy planning their big day and also balancing her duties as both a reporter for Fox's NFL coverage and a DWTS co-host.

"I wanna be the female Michael Strahan," Andrews says about her ambitions.

However, starting a family is also now also a priority.

"I grew up in the South. People were getting married at 21; I had my first major job at 21, and I was missing everybody's weddings because I was doing football games and baseball games," Andrews explains. "I had never been to Europe until two years ago -- I've gone to all the sports cities, but I'd never had a life for myself. I want to continue doing more, but it's going to be shaped toward how I want to have this family and how I do want to have kids. I think it's possible that I'll be able to have a kid and be able to do this for a living. We're just gonna have to figure out how."

WATCH: Erin Andrews Shows Off Giant Engagement Ring at LAX Airport

In a recent emotional interview on Sunday Night With Megyn Kelly, Andrews teared up when she spoke out about finding out that she had been secretly filmed while naked in her hotel room by her stalker, Michael David Barrett, in 2008.

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