Joan Lunden opens up about life after breast cancer and new streaming network

Veteran broadcaster and breast cancer survivor Joan Lunden didn’t go the Angelina Jolie route.

Lunden, the former “Good Morning America” host who was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer a year ago, didn’t have a double mastectomy and ovary removal like the Oscar-winning actress, but she certainly didn’t have it easy.

Instead, Lunden had 16 rounds of chemotherapy, six weeks of radiation, a lumpectomy and two blood transfusions to combat the rare form of the disease, which doesn’t respond to hormonal treatments.

"It made sense to just douse my entire body with a rigorous regimen of chemo and make sure they got those (cancer) cells, no matter where they might've been lurking,” Lunden, 64, told the Daily News on Wednesday before a live chat with readers.

It’s been the fight of her life, but she came out victorious: Lunden is now cancer-free, albeit not fully back to normal.

"I'm still in a wig (and) very fatigued," she said. "It takes a while to bounce back."

But she’s definitely on her way. On Tuesday, she launched ALIVE with Joan Lunden, an online television network that features interviews with breast cancer doctors, survivor stories, community video chats and more. Users can subscribe for $10 a month.

She was inspired by her father, a cancer surgeon who died in a plane crash.

"Not very long after I got the diagnosis, the light bulb went off in my head," she told The News. "I said, 'Your dad was a cancer surgeon. He was taken too early. (This is) an opportunity to carry on his legacy. Want to pick it up?'

“I could never do this on broadcast television,” she added. “I can talk for however long I want. ... That's part of what I think will make it successful — the raw honesty.”

Lunden calls cancer a sorority nobody wants to join, but the diagnosis has led to other trailblazing opportunities for the journalist — like posing totally bald on the cover of People magazine in September. Lunden said she "tortured” herself trying to decide if she should go for it.

"I didn't run around with my wig off (because) I didn't want to worry my kids," she says of 10- and 12-year-old sets of twins, who join three older daughters from a previous marriage. "I just didn't know if I'd have the guts to stand up in front of that (camera) and take my wig off.”

But once the camera started clicking, "The focus went from fighting for my life to fighting for everyone's life," she says. "It lights the fire in you that says, 'You can go out there and make a really big difference.'"

After all, she added, losing your hair is a lot better than losing your life. Of course, that’s easier said than done when a major magazine hits the stands.

"It's like people see you with your clothes off," she said.