Maria Menounos reveals both parents are hospitalized with COVID as mom also battles brain tumor
Maria Menonous has had a “pretty insane” two weeks as her family deals with two separate health issues.
The veteran entertainer revealed this week that both of her parents tested positive for coronavirus just days after learning her mother’s brain tumor was growing.
Her parents are still hospitalized in two different facilities in Los Angeles and are not out of the woods yet, she said in an emotional episode of her podcast and web show “Better Together with Maria Menounos.”
“We’re still in process right now and we still need as many prayers as you can spare,” she asked her audience Monday.
The news of her parents’ COVID-19 diagnosis came a day before Thanksgiving, almost immediately after Menounos landed in Los Angeles to surprise them.
She had learned that Monday that her mother’s brain tumor was growing again. The woman, Litsa Menounos, was diagnosed with Stage 4 brain cancer in 2016 — less than a year before her daughter had surgery to remove her own brain tumor, which was benign.
The former E! News anchor described the experience of learning about her parents’ coronavirus diagnosis “absolutely surreal.”
“First it was my mom. They had rushed her to the hospital when I landed,” she said. “Then, a few hours later, my dad tested positive.”
Menounos, 42, said she still hasn’t seen either of her parents because of the hospitals’ COVID-19 restrictions.
“You can’t go into the hospital. You can’t see them, so there’s a helpless feeling there,” she said.
But the longtime host said the “incredible” medical teams at both hospitals have helped her keep in touch with her parents via FaceTime. She added that she’s been dealing with this double crisis by focusing on what her “desired outcome” is as opposed to her fears.
“That helped a lot,” she said.
Menounos stepped down from E! News in July 2017 to recover from her brain surgery. She was diagnosed at the time with a noncancerous tumor the size of a golf ball.
