'RIP Mom': Maria Menounos Mourns Loss Of Her Mother To Brain Cancer
MEDFORD (CBS) -- TV personality and Medford native Maria Menounos is mourning the loss of her mother after a long battle with brain cancer. Litsa Menounos died Sunday, Menounos shared in a heartbreaking post to Instagram.
"RIP mom," she wrote below a picture of her mother being embraced. "God loved her so much he took her on greek easter."
Litsa Menounos was diagnosed with stage 4 brain cancer in 2016. While she was caring for her mother, Maria had a health scare of her own. She revealed in 2017 that she was diagnosed with a brain tumor and had a golf ball-sized benign tumor removed during a seven-hour surgery.
Maria said that both her mother and father Costas had to be hospitalized with COVID during the pandemic, but they recovered to celebrate their 46th wedding anniversary in March.
"We're just enjoying every minute of her miracle," Maria said in a video she shared in April about her family's health struggles.
Last September, she celebrated her mother's birthday and marked four years since the diagnosis.
"I am moved and inspired by your fearlessness and calm throughout this journey," Maria wrote. "Mom I love you more than words can express."
Maria was born and raised in Medford. She's a former Miss Massachusetts winner and Emerson College graduate.