A woman who was diagnosed with Stage IV terminal breast cancer at the age of 41 has opened up about why she left her husband to explore her sexuality in the final years of her life.
Molly, whose last name was withheld for privacy reasons, dishes about her sexual escapades on the new six-part podcast Dying for Sex, which is hosted by her best friend, actress Nikki Boyer.
‘She’s sexually and emotionally open and nonjudgmental,’ Nikki, 44, told the New York Post of Molly, who passed away last March at the age of 45. ‘She said [the dates] were helping her feel alive. She was reclaiming her body.’
Candid: Molly (right), whose last name was withheld for privacy reasons, discusses her sexual escapades with her best friend, Nikki Boyer (left), on the six-part podcast ‘Dying for Sex’
Living her life: After being diagnosed with Stage IV terminal breast cancer at the age of 41, Molly left her unhappy marriage and threw herself into dating and sex
Nikki, who met her friend in a New York City acting class 20 years earlier, said she came up with the idea for the podcast in 2018 when she picked Molly up to go to lunch and learned she had already been on two early-morning dates.
‘I said, “There’s a story in here,”‘ she recalled. ‘Sex and illness are rarely discussed together.’
Dying for Sex is not just about Molly’s sexual awakening, though there are plenty of hilarious stories about her sexual exploration. The Wondery series also explores female friendship, death, and what it means to feel alive.
In the first episode, titled ‘Happy Endings,’ Molly explained that she and her husband struggled with physical intimacy before her first cancer diagnosis.
‘Sexually, we had difficulties in my marriage before cancer came along. I had spent a really long time pushing him away because of my own issues,’ she said.
‘Right before I got diagnosed, I was kind of looking to recharge our sex life . . . and then cancer showed up.’
Battle: Molly underwent a double mastectomy, radiation, chemotherapy, and reconstructive surgery while fighting for her life
Looking back: Molly explained that she and her husband struggled with physical intimacy before her first cancer diagnosis
Molly underwent a double mastectomy, radiation, chemotherapy, and reconstructive surgery while fighting for her life.
She admitted she didn’t even feel ‘relevant as a sexual female’ after losing her breasts and being told she can’t have kids.
‘Cancer is not really the best place to start exploring sexuality,’ she said. ‘We were just trying to stay alive.’
Molly was put on a hormone therapy that was supposed to ‘squash’ her libido, but it actually had the opposite effect on her.
‘I literally wanted to hump everyone and everything that I saw,’ she recalled. ‘I was horny all of the time. I felt like a teenager.’
Molly started sending sexy selfies on an app, and with her husband’s approval, she embarked on virtual affairs, but they stayed together through her first bout with the disease.
Shock: Molly and her husband were in couples therapy when her doctor called her and told her the cancer had spread and was terminal
Making it count: The diagnosis made her see her unhappy 15-year marriage in a whole new light. She decided to leave her husband and threw herself into dating
She and her husband were in couples therapy when she got a call from her doctor and was told the cancer had spread to her bone and was terminal.
Nikki revealed that after Molly shared the devastating news, her husband said: ‘Can I get back to why I’m so angry?’
The diagnosis made her see her unhappy 15-year marriage in a whole new light, and she decided to leave her husband and enjoy her remaining time as a single woman.
Even though Molly was dying, she didn’t look sick. She threw herself into dating, and at one point on the series, she and Nikki tried to count the number of suitors in her phone but gave up after getting to 183.
Over the course of the miniseries, the two pals discuss Molly’s most memorable sexual encounters, including a Ryan Reynolds lookalike with a masochism fetish and an at-home massage that came with a happy ending.
Molly admitted that she was definitely ‘acting out’ in response to her diagnosis.
‘I don’t think I would do any of this stuff without the cancer,’ she said. ‘Even though I’d, maybe, want to, I’d be a little more cautious about everything.’
Dishing: Over the course of the miniseries, the two pals discuss Molly’s most memorable sexual encounters, including a Ryan Reynolds lookalike with a masochism fetish
Goal: Molly passed away last March at the age of 45, and Nikki said she hopes the podcast will inspire others ‘to nurture their relationships’
She explained: ‘Sex makes me feel alive — and it’s a great distraction from being sick.’
Nikki noted in the introduction to the podcast that they employ a lot of ‘gallows humor’ during their frank discussions about Molly’s health.
‘If you’re a commitment-phobe, I’m your girl,’ Molly joked in one episode.
While talking about inviting a guy she met online to her home, she shared that she was no longer as cautious as she used to be.
‘What are you going to do to me? Kill me? I’m dying,’ she pointed out.
The final episode of the podcast will air on March 11, and Nikki told the New York Post that she hopes the series inspires ‘people to nurture their relationships.’
‘People can think all day about what they would do, but you never know what life will throw at you and how you will react,’ she said. ‘What’s on your bucket list? What do you want to live for?’