Actress Hayley Mills has spoken publicly for the first time about her diagnosis with breast cancer in 2008 and subsequent recovery.
In an interview in the February issue of Good Housekeeping magazine, The Wild at Heart (TV) and Whistle down the Wind star says: "It was my birthday when I received the news.
"I was sitting in the sun by the Hudson River following a routine mammogram when I got the call on my mobile.
"It was an enormous shock. Suddenly, I looked out at the world as if I'd never seen it before.
"Everything felt clearer and sharper. And when you hear that diagnosis, you realise, 'Now I'm going to find out what I'm actually made of'."
Mills had cancer in both breasts and says she was "totally knocked out" by the chemotherapy, losing her hair within two weeks of the start of her medication.
She says: "I got to a point when I thought, 'to hell with this', so he (Mills's son Jason) shaved my head!
"I had a marvellous wig, which helped, and at night I wore a pink woolly bobble hat because my head got cold."
Of her recovery, Mills says: "I was first told two years ago that there was no sign of cancer any more, and I don't think I can put into words how that news made me feel.
"Every year I have a full scan and check-up, and I truly believe it's a combination of everything I did - surgery, chemo, alternative treatment - and the love of my family that helped."
