Days of Our Lives star Linsey Godfrey is proud of Suzanne Rogers for sharing her cancer journey with the world.
“She was a little private about it at first. I think we had a conversation where I was like, ‘If people don’t know, people won’t know. You’ll want people to know. You’ll find power in that,’” Godfrey, 37, exclusively shared with Us Weekly at Peacock’s Days of Our Lives 60th anniversary celebration on Saturday, November 8. “I think if you feel [that] it’s a secret, it feels like something awful that’s happening to you. When you talk about it, it feels like something amazing you’re overcoming.”
Last month, Rogers, 82, publicly revealed that she was recently diagnosed with stage II colorectal cancer. The actress — who plays Maggie Horton on the soap opera — completed her cancer treatment at the end of July and is resuming filming this month.
“For me with Suzanne, I encouraged her to be open about it,” Godfrey recalled to Us from The Garland Hotel in North Hollywood, California. “The amount of people that will look at Suzanne and push a little harder or fight a little bit harder, and know that they’re not alone. That’s so important.”
She continued, “It’s so important that we as people know that we’re not alone — whether it’s physical health, mental health, whatever it is. We’re all just people, right? We just need to not feel so alone all the time.”
As Rogers pushed through treatment and recovery, the actress was filled with support and encouragement from her Days of Our Lives family.
While walking the red carpet on Saturday night, the Daytime Emmy winner said she had calls and messages from several people “telling me they love me, and that I was in their prayers.”
“The prayers got me through it,” Rogers said. “My [Catholic] priest gave me a blessing the day before I started the chemo and radiation, and I think that helped with everything. I mean, I think that got me through it.”
According to Godfrey and costar Paul Telfer, credit also has to go to Rogers and her positive spirit for never giving up.
“Having [Suzanne] as a friend is one thing, but to have [Suzanne] as the best possible TV mother in law, I feel really grateful as well,” Telfer told Us. “[Suzanne], Linsey and I have formed this little dinner club where at least, like, once a month or so, we will get together and just have dinner and just breathe out and not be about work or anything else. We’re very lucky.”
Godfrey added, “From the moment that we met, we knew we were family. We’ve always said that. I call her mom. She’s my LA mom. My mom calls her my LA mom. My daughter calls her her LA grandma. She’s an incredible woman. She’s got the biggest heart and the biggest smile and she’s so talented. She’s so strong. To be a part of her journey in every aspect of her life is such an honor. And to be able to sit there and hold her hand while she’s going through something that I have a little bit of experience with, it just was such an honor.”
In 2006, Godfrey was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. She underwent treatment and successfully entered remission in 2007.
When looking back on her health journey, Rogers urges people to build a support system. With a great group of friends and a strong Catholic faith, Rogers said she was able to push through and return to a TV family she loves so much.
“A lot of prayer and knowing that you had friends that were there for you [helped]. No matter what you needed, they were there,” she said. “It’s just that you have to have some close friends. But faith is number one.”
Days of our Lives streams exclusively on Peacock, with new episodes available weekdays.
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