Ashley Park thinks her cancer battle was the most "selfish time" of her life.
Ashley Park looks back on her teenage cancer battle
The 32-year-old actress was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia at the age of 15 and has now been free of the disease for a number of years but has now explained that she felt "selfish" after realising that her loved ones were "only thinking about her" but also feels as if she is an "inspiration" to others.
She told People: "People say, ‘You're a hero for surviving' But that was probably the most selfish time of my life because I had to have everybody I care about only thinking about me. And I really don’t like that. But then I realise surviving [cancer] and then working hard to thrive and be happy after that is an inspiration for people.”
The 'Emily in Paris' star recently claimed that because doctors told her that some pharmaceutical treatments at the time could leave her with fertility issues, she now believes in alternative medicine and prefers to prioritise her mental health.
She told Women's Health: "It’s not that I’m skeptical of pharmaceuticals—I love an Advil—but because of the cancer experience, I’ve also realised how amazing holistic medicine can be. The doctors said,‘You might have fertility problems, you might have...’ I was like, let’s stop there.
"The mind is so powerful that as soon as we think something’s a possibility, it manifests it. I’ve finally learned the power of a mental health break. In my 20s, I thought of vacations as, you can travel and do exciting things.It’s shifted to vacation being alone time."
Ashley has also admitted that she "doesn't mind" that discussing her cancer but does not want the illness to define her.
She told Cosmopolitan: "Many times people bring up my cancer experience. I totally don’t mind talking about it. I think it’s very important to talk about, but I also appreciate when I’m not asked to talk about the experience, or about how it’s informed how I’ve lived my life.
"I never wanted to be just the Asian girl, just the ‘whatever’ girl, and then I got to 16 and was the bald girl and the sick girl. I didn’t want to know that I might be infertile or that my heart might stop working or any of that stuff because once you say it, you’re thinking about it. Even though my body beat the disease, if I let it change anything, it’s won."