Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Interview With Andie MacDowell, Andrew Tilberis
Aired December 02, 2002 - 09:41 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Major fund-raising event will held right here in New York City tonight is to boost the fight against ovarian cancer. The leading cause of death from gynecologic cancers in the U.S. Each year more than 25,000 women are diagnosed with this cancer, more than 14,500 a year lose their lives to the cancer.
Joining us this morning, actress Andie MacDowell, one of the hosts of tonight's event and Andrew Tilberis, whose wife, "Harper's Bazaar" magazine editor Liz Tilberis, died of ovarian cancer after a valiant battle in 1999. Good morning to both of you.
ANDIE MACDOWELL, ACTRESS: Good morning.
KAGAN: Good thing to have you here with us so early. I know you have the big night coming up tonight.
Andie, I want to talk woman to woman first. First of all, as cancers go, we don't really hear about ovarian cancer, you hear about how important it is to get a pap smear, which doesn't detect ovarian cancer, and you hear about breast cancer but you don't hear about this one.
MACDOWELL: Right. It's important for people, for women, to understand how deadly this disease is and to be able to listen to their bodies. So I'm hoping that this is going to bring awareness for women so that we do become more educated.
KAGAN: Andrew, you learned about this disease the hard way when your wife was diagnosed, I guess it was about 10 years ago now.
ANDREW TILBERIS, HUSBAND OF LIZ TILBERIS: '93, the end of '93.
KAGAN: Take us become to then.
TILBERIS: There were no inklings of anything wrong. The normal female things, bloating, listlessness, tiredness and all that stuff. But no diagnosis of anything wrong. Certainly no physical evidence of anything wrong. And visiting her gynecologist here in New York, the gynecologist detected a tumor or detected something wrong, sent her to an oncologist and they wanted to operate that day or the day after.
KAGAN: By the time they found it, how far advanced was the disease?
TILBERIS: There are four stages in ovarian cancer and she was late stage three. And the diagnosis was if it was late stage three, that she would have five years to live. They told us quite bluntly. She lived 5 1/2 years.
KAGAN: And the big key tonight is about early detection because that makes such a difference especially with ovarian cancer.
MACDOWELL: Yes, they've done really well with this event tonight. The 11th event.
TILBERIS: Sold out event this evening.
KAGAN: Trying to raise money to raise awareness or the research?
TILBERIS: Get more money so we can fund the researchers that are not doing the detection work. Most of the hospitals, the medical hospitals, are trying to find a cure which is obviously necessary.
But it's the early detection at the genetic stage, the molecular stage, the fetal stage which will reap the best dividends, that's where we are focusing our group.
KAGAN: Part of that is being aware of the risk factors and we put together graphics of some people might be aware. If we could put that up.
Increasing age. This is a cancer that hits women older rather than younger?
TILBERIS: Yes, slightly.
KAGAN: We don't want to rule anybody out women over 50.
TILBERIS: It has incidences in younger women.
KAGAN: Also a history of ovarian, breast or colon cancer in your family, so you could have a different cancer that would make you suffer from this.
Also suffering from infertility. That was one thing that your wife went through, is that right?
TILBERIS: Infertility and the correlation for that is fertility drug treatment and those sort of things. I think the women who are not at risk are women that have had babies or are on the pill. They are the least likely to get it.
KAGAN: That might help. And if we could put the graphic out just so we go through that the list.
Ashkenazi Jewish descent. And as you mentioned, fertility drugs taken for more than three cycles. So was that Liz's case? Did she take it?
TILBERIS: In Liz's case she had for years, she attempts that year, 1979 I think it was. And they all failed. It was right at the beginning of the in vitro program in Britain by Dr. Steptoe (ph), Louise Brown if you remember was born there, so everybody wanted it, who couldn't have babies thought this was the answer. We went for it in a big way. But it was a terrible year because they were all failures. And the dye was cast then in her case.
KAGAN: Part of this event tonight is honoring, and honoring Liz Tilberis.
TILBERIS: And honoring Donna.
MACDOWELL: Donna Karan.
TILBERIS: Donna Karan who's receiving the first Liz Tilberis Humanitarian Award.
KAGAN: Tell us about the award as it's going to be presented.
MACDOWELL: I'm not actually presenting the award, but Karen Hamilton (ph) from L'Oreal will be presenting the award. I'm going to announce her.
KAGAN:: But the world right now knows you as this movie star. but of course you're getting your roots in the fashion business. And Liz Tilberis, being a woman, I remember following her story when she was fighting this battle. Not just a pistol, someone who was going to fight back, but someone who was very well liked in the fashion industry which sometimes is not that easy.
TILBERIS: Andie had worked in those days with British "Vogue" with all the photographers.
MACDOWELL: For a long time. All the same people.
You have to be very strong in this business. And it was great she dedicated her life and helped bring awareness to the disease. And the last part of her life that she gave so much of her life towards helping other women.
TILBERIS: Absolutely. And she was still running the Super Saturday events right up to the last year of her life, Liz, and editing the magazine from her bed when she was not able to walk. She was dedicated to the fashion and also dedicated to (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
KAGAN: She is no doubt missed by the industry but especially by her family, and will be remembered tonight. Andie MacDowell, Andrew Tilberis, good luck tonight.
TILBERIS: Thank you so much. Come along.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 2, 2002 - 09:41 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Major fund-raising event will held right here in New York City tonight is to boost the fight against ovarian cancer. The leading cause of death from gynecologic cancers in the U.S. Each year more than 25,000 women are diagnosed with this cancer, more than 14,500 a year lose their lives to the cancer.
Joining us this morning, actress Andie MacDowell, one of the hosts of tonight's event and Andrew Tilberis, whose wife, "Harper's Bazaar" magazine editor Liz Tilberis, died of ovarian cancer after a valiant battle in 1999. Good morning to both of you.
ANDIE MACDOWELL, ACTRESS: Good morning.
KAGAN: Good thing to have you here with us so early. I know you have the big night coming up tonight.
Andie, I want to talk woman to woman first. First of all, as cancers go, we don't really hear about ovarian cancer, you hear about how important it is to get a pap smear, which doesn't detect ovarian cancer, and you hear about breast cancer but you don't hear about this one.
MACDOWELL: Right. It's important for people, for women, to understand how deadly this disease is and to be able to listen to their bodies. So I'm hoping that this is going to bring awareness for women so that we do become more educated.
KAGAN: Andrew, you learned about this disease the hard way when your wife was diagnosed, I guess it was about 10 years ago now.
ANDREW TILBERIS, HUSBAND OF LIZ TILBERIS: '93, the end of '93.
KAGAN: Take us become to then.
TILBERIS: There were no inklings of anything wrong. The normal female things, bloating, listlessness, tiredness and all that stuff. But no diagnosis of anything wrong. Certainly no physical evidence of anything wrong. And visiting her gynecologist here in New York, the gynecologist detected a tumor or detected something wrong, sent her to an oncologist and they wanted to operate that day or the day after.
KAGAN: By the time they found it, how far advanced was the disease?
TILBERIS: There are four stages in ovarian cancer and she was late stage three. And the diagnosis was if it was late stage three, that she would have five years to live. They told us quite bluntly. She lived 5 1/2 years.
KAGAN: And the big key tonight is about early detection because that makes such a difference especially with ovarian cancer.
MACDOWELL: Yes, they've done really well with this event tonight. The 11th event.
TILBERIS: Sold out event this evening.
KAGAN: Trying to raise money to raise awareness or the research?
TILBERIS: Get more money so we can fund the researchers that are not doing the detection work. Most of the hospitals, the medical hospitals, are trying to find a cure which is obviously necessary.
But it's the early detection at the genetic stage, the molecular stage, the fetal stage which will reap the best dividends, that's where we are focusing our group.
KAGAN: Part of that is being aware of the risk factors and we put together graphics of some people might be aware. If we could put that up.
Increasing age. This is a cancer that hits women older rather than younger?
TILBERIS: Yes, slightly.
KAGAN: We don't want to rule anybody out women over 50.
TILBERIS: It has incidences in younger women.
KAGAN: Also a history of ovarian, breast or colon cancer in your family, so you could have a different cancer that would make you suffer from this.
Also suffering from infertility. That was one thing that your wife went through, is that right?
TILBERIS: Infertility and the correlation for that is fertility drug treatment and those sort of things. I think the women who are not at risk are women that have had babies or are on the pill. They are the least likely to get it.
KAGAN: That might help. And if we could put the graphic out just so we go through that the list.
Ashkenazi Jewish descent. And as you mentioned, fertility drugs taken for more than three cycles. So was that Liz's case? Did she take it?
TILBERIS: In Liz's case she had for years, she attempts that year, 1979 I think it was. And they all failed. It was right at the beginning of the in vitro program in Britain by Dr. Steptoe (ph), Louise Brown if you remember was born there, so everybody wanted it, who couldn't have babies thought this was the answer. We went for it in a big way. But it was a terrible year because they were all failures. And the dye was cast then in her case.
KAGAN: Part of this event tonight is honoring, and honoring Liz Tilberis.
TILBERIS: And honoring Donna.
MACDOWELL: Donna Karan.
TILBERIS: Donna Karan who's receiving the first Liz Tilberis Humanitarian Award.
KAGAN: Tell us about the award as it's going to be presented.
MACDOWELL: I'm not actually presenting the award, but Karen Hamilton (ph) from L'Oreal will be presenting the award. I'm going to announce her.
KAGAN:: But the world right now knows you as this movie star. but of course you're getting your roots in the fashion business. And Liz Tilberis, being a woman, I remember following her story when she was fighting this battle. Not just a pistol, someone who was going to fight back, but someone who was very well liked in the fashion industry which sometimes is not that easy.
TILBERIS: Andie had worked in those days with British "Vogue" with all the photographers.
MACDOWELL: For a long time. All the same people.
You have to be very strong in this business. And it was great she dedicated her life and helped bring awareness to the disease. And the last part of her life that she gave so much of her life towards helping other women.
TILBERIS: Absolutely. And she was still running the Super Saturday events right up to the last year of her life, Liz, and editing the magazine from her bed when she was not able to walk. She was dedicated to the fashion and also dedicated to (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
KAGAN: She is no doubt missed by the industry but especially by her family, and will be remembered tonight. Andie MacDowell, Andrew Tilberis, good luck tonight.
TILBERIS: Thank you so much. Come along.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
