Ananda Lewis, Influential MTV Host, Dies at 52

Ananda Lewis, who had a celebrated run on MTV as a veejay and as the host of shows including Total Request Live and Hot Zone, has died at age 52.

News of Lewis’ death was confirmed in a Facebook post by her sister, Lakshmi Emory. In 2020, Lewis revealed that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer, saying that she had long avoided mammograms and urged early testing.

Her last post to Instagram was in February, when she wrote that “prevention is the cure. If you’re in a healthy body, you’re holding a winning lotto ticket. PLEASE learn how to avoid cancer. Because you still can.” Lewis is survived by her son, Langston, who is 14.

Born in Los Angeles, Lewis attended Howard University and then came to cultural prominence in the late ’90s as an MTV veejay. After joining the network in 1997, she hosted programs including the countdown show Total Request Live and Hot Zone, which featured music videos and Lewis’ artist interviews. The network also called upon Lewis to host specials on school violence after the 1999 Columbine shooting along with a tribute program following the 2001 death of Aaliyah.

Lewis launched The Ananda Lewis Show in 2001 and later served as a correspondent on Entertainment Tonight spin-off The Insider, eventually leaving that project to pursue carpentry. Her final project was as the host of TLC’s While You Were Out.

On social media, fellow former MTV veejay Dave Holmes remembered Lewis writing “Well, this is awful. Ananda Lewis has died. She was the best: friendly funny kind clever cool committed passionate patient stylish and smart. If you were working with her, you knew you’d be having fun, and you’d want to step your game up to match her effortless charisma. You couldn’t, but the trying made you better. We bonded over our shared love of this song, it has reminded me of her ever since, and now it always will. All my love to her family.”