Amanda Peet, 54, Had This ‘Weird’ Breast Cancer Symptom Six Months Before Her Diagnosis
Doctors reveal what to look for, including sneaky warning signs many women miss
Key Takeaways
- Amanda Peet noticed an unusual breast change six months before her diagnosis.
- Early breast cancer doesn’t always cause a noticeable or distinct lump.
- Skin, nipple, size and texture changes can be early breast cancer warning signs.
The tricky thing when it comes to health conditions is that they don’t always present in the way we think. When it comes to breast cancer, we all know we should be checking for lumps. But in an October 1 interview with TODAY, actress Amanda Peet, 54, opened up about the breast cancer symptoms that took her by surprise. Below, we dive into Peet’s breast cancer diagnosis journey and speak to top doctors for their best tips on recognizing the early warning signs of breast cancer that are easy to miss.
Amanda Peet’s early breast cancer symptoms
In her TODAY interview, Peet shared that she didn’t initially have any glaring red flags to her eventual lobular breast cancer diagnosis, but she noticed something felt off months before.
“I was in my closet, I was probably putting something on and I felt a weird…It just didn’t feel like normal skin, but it wasn’t the frozen pea that everybody talks about,” Peet said in the interview. “And I went and I even got an MRI and then they sent me away. And so I thought I had a clean bill of health, but they were actually kind of watching it.”
Marisa C. Weiss, MD, founder and chief medical officer, Breastcancer.org, says patients often use the term “frozen pea” to describe lumps that are hard, small and firm, but most breast cancers don’t feel like this.
“Breast lumps often feel harder than the tissue around them, though some are soft and movable with smooth edges, while others may feel hard and fixed with irregular edges,” explains Dr. Weiss. She adds that most early breast cancers such as those at stage 0 or stage 1 either don’t cause a lump or cause a lump that’s too small for a person to be able to feel. Instead, they show up on a mammogram.
Amanda Peet’s breast cancer diagnosis
Six months after she first noticed a change in skin texture on her breast, the Your Friends & Neighbors star went back for a follow-up visit. And her doctor’s change in demeanor was a warning sign something was wrong. “My doctor was usually very chatty and we would talk about our kids and whatever, and she just went silent and so I knew,” Peet said. “And then she said she was going to walk the sample [from a biopsy] over to Cedar’s-Sinai herself, and so I kind of knew when she said that, because why else would she be walking it over on a Friday night.”
Peet revealed that when she got the call from her doctor in the fall of 2025 and did some of her own digging, she thought she might have had a non-cancerous condition called lobular carcinoma in situ at first. “I had my laptop and when she said that I have lobular cancer, which is a little bit more unusual, the first thing that came up was LCIS,” Peet said. “My spirits lifted for a second and then she just said, ‘no, you actually have cancer.’”
After Peet was diagnosed with breast cancer, she underwent a lumpectomy and radiation. “I think a lot about how lucky I was in so many ways,” Peet said, noting that she was grateful her breast cancer was caught early at stage 1.
What is lobular breast cancer?
“Lobular breast cancer is a type of breast cancer that originates from the lobules of the breast,” explains April Marie Duckworth, MD, director of the breast program at Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute. “The lobules are responsible for making the breast milk.”
“About 10 to 15 percent of breast cancers are lobular, but because breast cancer is so common, there are a significant number of patients who have this type of breast cancer,” adds Dr. Weiss.
5 early symptoms of breast cancer
As Peet well knows and our experts can attest, the early warning signs of breast cancer don’t always present as a lump. Changes in breast tissue, texture or nipple discharge warrant a prompt visit with your doctor, especially if you have a family history of breast cancer or dense breasts. Dr. Weiss breaks down five early breast cancer warning signs that can be easy to miss:
A thickening or lump in the breast or underarm
“It may feel harder than the tissue around it, with uneven edges, though some lumps are soft or movable,” says Dr. Duckworth. “Many cancers, including lobular, cause no distinct lump.”
Changes in breast skin
“These include dimpling, puckering or swelling (skin that looks like an orange peel), irritation, a change in texture or redness, scaliness or thickening,” explains Dr. Duckworth. “In inflammatory breast cancer, a rarer type that grows fast, the breast can look red, pink or bruised with pitting or ridges and it may be mistaken for an infection.”
Breast size, shape or swelling changes
Dr. Duckworth says one breast may look bigger than the other, one part of the breast can swell or even all of it may swell.
Nipple changes
Pain, redness, thickening or scaling of the nipple skin, discharge that isn’t breast milk or a nipple that turns inwards are all warning signs of breast cancer, explains Dr. Duckworth.
Warmth, pain or tenderness of the breast
Warmth, hardness or tenderness are all early warning signs, but Dr. Duckworth says pain alone isn’t the most common sign of breast cancer.
The bottom line on early breast cancer warning signs
Our experts are clear: Catching breast cancer early, like Peet did, can make a world of difference in outcomes. And now that you know what to look for, you’re one step ahead of the curve.
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