'The Facts of Life' star Mindy Cohn reveals breast cancer battle
The 51-year-old actress said she kept her diagnosis private for five years.
— -- Actress Mindy Cohn revealed she had breast cancer, and that she kept her health battle private for the past five years, in a new interview with People magazine.
The "The Facts of Life" star said she is currently in remission, but that she underwent a double mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiation during the course of her journey towards recovery.
"I called my agent and said I had to stop working for at least a year," Cohn, 51, told People. "I just dropped off the face of the earth. I needed to be away and get better."
![PHOTO:Mindy Cohn during Celebrity Autobiography: The Music Edition Volume 4 at The GRAMMY Museum, April 16, 2014, in Los Angeles.](https://s.abcnews.com/images/US/cohn-2-gty-er-171017_4x3_992.jpg)
Cohn said she recovered in part on the farm owned by her friends Josh Kilmer-Purcell and Dr. Brent Ridge who appear in the reality show "The Fabulous Beekman Boys."
Kilmer-Purcell and Ridge were there for Cohn "during the worst times," she said. "My recovery included feeding 113 goats, feeding chickens, shoveling poop, working in the garden ... I felt myself growing stronger."
Cohn also spoke candidly about learning to reach out to friends for help.
"I needed to be vulnerable ... I had to learn that asking for help is not me being weak," she told the magazine. "It was hard to go through it alone."
![PHOTO: Mindy Cohn as Natalie Green in "The Facts of Life."](https://s.abcnews.com/images/US/cohn-3-gty-er-171017.jpg)
Cohn's "Facts of Life" costar, Kim Fields, stopped by "Good Morning America" today, revealing that Cohn reached out to her after being diagnosed.
"She's an amazing source of everything--of life, of strength, of peace, of beauty ...certainly laughter, still," Fields told "GMA" co-anchor Robin Roberts.
She added, "It was a blessing and an honor at a minimum to be there in any way she allowed."