Mary J. Blige joined First Lady Jill Biden and the American Cancer Society at a Cancer Moonshot event held at the White House on Monday (October 24) to help spread awareness about prevention and treatment of breast and cervical cancer.
The cancer society pledged to convene the events after President Joe Biden and the first lady resurrected the “cancer moonshot” initiative this year. Jill Biden said the program provides more money for research to “help us end cancer as we know it. For good.”
Blige said she lost several family members to breast, cervical and lung cancer. She has promoted breast cancer screening, especially among Black women who are disproportionately affected, through the Black Women’s Health Imperative.
Aiming to clear the misconceptions about mammograms among black women, the R&B superstar blamed “the practice of not wanting other people in our business” for disparities in breast cancer outcomes between Blacks and whites.
She said she is convinced that had her aunts, godmother and grandparents been informed about cancer, “they would have a different outcome today.” Blige and Jill Biden sat holding hands for several minutes.
Biden, whose adult son Beau died of brain cancer in 2015, thanked Blige for “lending your powerful voice to this cause.”
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