Edie Falco Reveals Sobriety Helped Her Beat Cancer

When Edie Falco was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2003, she was ready.

"I had really been taking care of myself for about 15 years before I got sick -- not drinking, not smoking, eating well -- so I fared very well," the Sopranos star tells Sunday's issue of Parade magazine.

The actress, 45, has been sober for 17 years -- she has said that she struggled with alcohol for years -- and insists that kicking the habit is what helped her battle the disease.

See photos of Edie and other stars who beat breast cancer!

"They gave me very strong chemo drugs," she says. "I was so lucky that two of the biggest things in my life -- my sobriety and my breast cancer -- happened in the order they happened."

In addition to staying physically healthy, she adds that her mental health was a likely factor in her recovery.

"And I've been in therapy since time began," she jokes. "Maybe that helped a little, too, on some level."

Falco, known best for her role as Carmela Soprano on the HBO series, found out she had cancer while still working on the show.

"I had my biopsy at eight in the morning, she recalls. Within two hours, I knew I had cancer."

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The actress -- who kept her illness a secret while working on the show -- had to be on set a few hours later to film a scene in which Carmela and Tony Soprano (played by James Gandolfini) were arguing about their divorce.

"It was a very angry scene for me, and that helped a bit, I'm sure," she says. "I had a miserably hard time holding on to my lines. It was a terribly frightening and surreal time, but I never missed a day of work, even on the worst chemo days."

Now that she's a cancer survivor, Falco -- who is starring in the new Showtime series Nurse Jackie -- prefers to focus on her two adopted children.

"I'm just not one of those people who thought having biological children was that important, she tells Parade. "To me, it was more about wanting to raise a child."

Find out what other star moms have adopted children.

She adds: "I have this dog named Marley, and it is a kind of love I had never known. I have a hard time believing Marley did not come from my body. I know that sounds insane, but I feel that connected to her. She made me realize I wanted to adopt children."

As for her love life, she also uses her pet as a benchmark.

"If I could only find a boyfriend for whom I could buy a can of food and clean up after on the street, I'd be set," Falco adds, laughing. "Maybe I should put that ad on Match.com."

In the end, the actress prefers to live one day at a time.

"You have no idea at the time that there is a future." she says. "It's a future that involves taking a trip to Sloan-Kettering hospital every six months to make sure I'm okay, but it's just a part of who I am now. You learn to live with it and are amazed how you find ways to be grateful for it."


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