The Bachelor fans came to know and love Joey Graziadei‘s fiancée Kelsey Anderson, as well as her dad, Mark Anderson. Sadly, she lost her mom Denise to breast cancer and shared how that’s affected her life.
When Was Kelsey Anderson’s Mom Denise Diagnosed With Breast Cancer?
Kelsey’s mom was diagnosed in 2011. “At the beginning I just wanted to push it all away. I didn’t want to think about it,” she confessed about the diagnosis in a preview for “The Squeeze” podcast episode on November 27, 2024.
At first, she tried to put the crisis out of her mind. “I was just going out at the time. I was eating terrible. I was drinking a lot,” Kelsey confessed.
Kelsey Anderson Asked for Fans’ Help With Her Mom’s Fight Against Breast Cancer
The future reality star shared an Instagram post about her mother’s battle in November 2017, while she was still fighting for her life.
Kelsey described how in the years since Denise’s 2011 diagnosis, “It has moved to her bones and liver … the doctors told her she has 6 months to a year left, but she isn’t giving up. She’s doing research and is trying whatever she can. If anyone has any advice or family that has been in this situation, please let me know!” she wrote at the time next to various photos with her mom.
Kelsey Anderson Raised Money for Her Mother’s Cancer Treatment
The reality star set up a GoFundMe page “for the trials and travel expensive fees because the insurance won’t cover it. Please pray for my mom,” she added to the 2017 Instagram post.
Courtesy of Kelsey Anderson/Instagram
Kelsey Anderson Discussed Her Mom’s Cancer Battle on ‘The Bachelor’
While competing for and later winning Joey’s love on season 28 of the ABC reality show, Kelsey told Joey how her mom’s breast cancer “metastasized on her bones. They gave her six months,” she revealed. “After that, it was just very aggressive and after I think about 2 months, she passed away.”
Kelsey Anderson’s Mom’s Last Days Were Extremely Painful
“She had radiation pills that she would take, but she was having to take morphine every day,” Kelsey told “The Squeeze” hosts Taylor Lautner and his wife, Tay Lautner.
“Her bones were breaking in her sleep. After a month she had a stroke. She didn’t really know who anyone was, and she was scared. My dad would try and bathe her or something, and she was, like, terrified,” the project assistant added.
Butterflies Remind Kelsey Anderson of Her Late Mom
Kelsey made the revelation during The Bachelor, about how she associates the winged creatures with her mother.
“Whenever I see butterflies, it feels like it’s my mom there. Right before I came on here, I got off work and I was walking down, and I saw butterflies in the middle of the city of New Orleans. And I don’t know, that kind of was reassuring to me,” she explained.
Kelsey Anderson’s Mom’s Cancer Battle ‘Shaped’ Her as a Person
Kelsey described her mom as “the kindest person,” and how her parents raised foster kids while she was growing up.
“My mom just had the biggest heart and always took care of everyone around her,” she shared on the “The Squeeze.”
While appearing on The Bachelor, Kelsey revealed during a confessional, “I think that, like, my mom’s story in my life is so significant and special to me that it has shaped me into who I am.” She said of telling her mom’s story to Joey, “It felt really nice, him telling me that the qualities I described in my mom was something that he saw in me.”
Courtesy of Kelsey Anderson/Instagram
Kelsey Anderson Wants to Bring Her Late Mom ‘Joy’ at Her Wedding to Joey Graziadei
The bride-to-be revealed on “The Squeeze” that “Whenever Joey and I are talking about, like, the wedding, or things like that, it makes me sad to know that she’s…” before wiping away tears without finishing her sentence.
“My mom wouldn’t want me to be like this. I think I want to emulate my mom and bring her joy,” Kesley added, more composed.
When speaking about Joey, she said what matters most when they get married is being surrounded by loved ones. “The wedding is about him and I and the people we love the most being there. And it’s not about all of the extra bells and whistles” that come with the occasion, she said.
Kelsey previously noted on The Bachelor that it was “hard” for her to imagine her mother not being at her wedding one day, prior to Joey’s proposal. Although she did confess to her future husband, “I think she’d like you.”
