Maria Menounos on Health Anxiety, Burnout, and the Moment She Finally Slowed Down

Maria Menounos spent years living a glamorous life—but it came with a cost. Between red carpets, nonstop travel, major hosting gigs, and endless opportunities, she says she was surviving on fast food, working 16- to 18-hour days, and pushing herself so hard that her body eventually forced her to stop. 

On Well with Arielle, the Emmy-winning journalist admits she put an insane amount of pressure on herself during her peak Hollywood years, saying that many women wait until they’re completely depleted before they finally feel “allowed” to prioritize themselves. She also mentions the fear and anxiety that followed both her brain tumor and pancreatic tumor diagnoses, and the simple habits that now make her feel the healthiest.

Below are the highlights from the conversation, adapted from the episode.

What did success look like to you during your peak Hollywood years?

“I remember when I first met my husband, he was like, ‘Why do you wanna make it so bad?’ And I was like, ‘I wanna give my parents the life they never had.’ My parents were immigrants; they were janitors cleaning nightclubs all over Boston…Success was only exciting and fun if I could share it with them. So I took them everywhere, wherever I was, whatever red carpet. Tom Selleck kissed my mom on the cheek at the Emmys, and I had my dad on the Jimmy Kimmel show…I had wild dreams. I was like, ‘Oh, let’s just try for everything.’ I never thought I would be able to write a book, let alone New York Times bestsellers.”

When did you start realizing the entertainment industry was taking a toll on your body?

“I remember it was like 48 out of 52 weeks, 7 days a week, at least 16+ hour days, 18-hour days, nonstop traveling…I was eating fast food nonstop, and then I’d be in and out of the hospital for dehydration or low potassium. I just wasn’t getting nutrients because I was just running through drive-throughs…I definitely abused my body because I think a lot of us are really taught as we’re young, grow up, get good grades, go to an amazing college, succeed, make a lot of money, get married, have kids. Health is never part of the equation.”

What finally made you slow down?

“It wasn’t until I had the brain tumor that I really liked it, I mean, it was a hard stop, because I could barely walk after. I was like using a walker. I had a lot of recovery that I needed to do after that, so I had a lot of time to think, and I was like, wait a second. I realized in the hospital, I’ll never forget, I’ve been chasing the top performers in our business, thinking like, if they can go that hard, I can go that hard…And then I realized, wait, that’s been completely going against my own grain. That’s actually not who I am.”

How did your childhood shape the way you push yourself today?

“One of the things my dad said to me when I was younger stuck with me. He’s like, ‘Maria, you lazy,’…Now, he didn’t mean to do what he did, but even like the other day, it was raining here in LA, and it was President’s Day, and I was like, you know what? I’m not doing anything today…It was like a big deal for me to be like, I’m not doing anything. I’m gonna have a lazy day….Sometimes those things kind of get embedded in you.”

How do you know when you’re overscheduled now?

“I’m angry, I’m stressed, nothing’s going right. And so then I’m like, OK, we are going to chill…It’s like I start, I noticed that I start to hold on to things really tightly. It’s like I’m white knuckling my day, and when I feel myself like this, it’s like, oh my God, let go, you know, but it’s easier said than done, because again, like, I feel like now that we’re in this time when everybody is a content creator, too…Now, I really just keep a very calm schedule. And then the second it’s not calm, and I’m like, I know, ‘Oh sh*t, I did it again. I overscheduled. I overdid it.’”

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Why do you think so many women wait until they’re burned out to prioritize themselves?

“We’re always waiting almost for an excuse to matter…I think my mom was actually happiest when she got brain cancer. I know that sounds messed up, but we all doted around her. She was the queen. We took care of her. Before we were all just taking and taking and taking. Now we were putting in, and she was so happy…

…I went to a dinner that was hosted here in LA once. A lot of really powerful women. I think the question was like, what do you do for yourself? Like, if you had 30 minutes, what would you do? Everyone walked around the room and I go, ‘Are we OK, guys?’ I started crying…They’re not even giving themselves 30 minutes? That’s mind blowing to me.”

How did you discover your pancreatic tumor?

“I had been searching and searching for answers, cause I knew something was wrong with me. I had like a bloated gut. Something was wrong, and I kept searching and searching, and I wasn’t getting the answers…And then we start talking, and then a month and a half later, I got diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, which is a pancreas issue, and I didn’t connect the dots because I’ve since really understood how intuitive I am, but I’m not trained, so I blurt…And so I was blurting the pancreas thing, and then I got diagnosed with diabetes, and now I’m thinking, was it diabetes? Was it the pancreas tumor? We’ll never really know what came first, but then months later, we found out about the pancreas tumor…

…So I had a full body scan, and I had been scanned at a medical institution, and they told me I was fine. It was an abdominal CT scan…Tony Robbins talks about it in his book. He’s like, ‘Doctors can be sincere, but they can also be sincerely wrong.’ And unfortunately, the system is very overwhelmed, and it’s human error, so it was missed. But luckily, I was just grateful that we found it and it hadn’t spread anywhere, so hallelujah.”

How do you deal with health anxiety after everything you’ve been through?

“It’s definitely an everyday journey. When it first happened, I mean, I was in the fetal position cause we had a baby on the way, and I was like, ‘How are you going to take me right now?’ This is not OK, and this is beyond belief, and then I used that tool, choosing wonder over worry, and it really helped. And yeah, I mean, it took a lot of really great friends, like, you know, Doctor John Amaral, who is, you know, my friend, he does a lot of energy work. I remember vividly talking to him the night before surgery. And I was like, ‘I’m scared,’ and he’s like, ‘Oh, God forbid you be scared.’ He’s like, ‘Of course you’re scared, you should be scared, that’s natural to feel scared,’ and, you know, and he helped me a lot…It was a very rough surgery, but then, since then, yeah, when I feel stuff, I get scared, and then I just deal with it instantly. And I’ll try to remember, I’ll say things like, ‘Nope, not my story, nope.’” 

What wellness habits actually make the biggest difference for you?

“The trampoline is literally the greatest thing you can do…NASA studied it, Harvard studied it, it’s incredible for your body and your health…I actually think the red light was, is pretty anti-aging too, because I didn’t do it for the last year, and boy did I notice…Before, it was like I was reverse aging because I was doing the red light every single day.”

What wellness trends do you think are overrated?

“I’m very basic with a lot of this stuff, because I feel like everyone’s into longevity and all this stuff and biohacking. I’m not into NAD stuff, I’m not into all the face lasers and all these things. The second you’re putting it near your neck—has anyone done the research on what that does to your thyroid? No. Everyone does their specific thing and then they praise all those results, but then they don’t talk about the rest of the system. And so I’m a little hesitant on stuff like that. I’ve really just kind of kept it very simple.”

To hear the full conversation, listen to Well with Arielle wherever you get your podcasts.

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