Amanda Peet hopes sharing her breast cancer diagnosis will "create a community".

The 54-year-old actress had six-monthly checkups due to having "dense" and "busy" breasts, and she was sent for a biopsy following a routine appointment in August 2025, which resulted in a tumour that "appeared" small being found but needed a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan to determine "the extent of disease".

And Amanda - whose cancer is treatable - has been praised for her bravery in talking about her health ordeal in an essay for The New Yorker on March 21.

During an interview with Extra, host Mona Kosar Abdi, 34, told the Your Friends + Neighbors cast member that she has saved lives by sharing her story, and "encourages women to go and get tested early".

Amanda replied: "Thank you so much for saying that. Yeah, or even just bringing comfort to people. I think creating a community around it is probably helpful. I know I needed one badly right away when I found out."

The star's pal, actress Sarah Paulson, lauded Amanda for her "profoundly gorgeous" essay about her breast cancer diagnosis - which she received when her parents, Penny and Charles, were dying in hospice care.

Sarah, 51, penned on Instagram: "My best friend, Amanda Peet … has written the most profoundly gorgeous essay about the loss of her parents, while dealing with a breast cancer diagnosis.

"@newyorkermag has published it today, and I'm screaming from the rooftops with joy. I hope you all take the time to read it.

"If you are running around and doing other stuff, I did the audio recording and you can listen to me try to do the piece justice. My friend is a @newyorkermag essayist. How outrageously groovy is that? Bird, I love you beyond. (sic)"

In the essay, Amanda shared how she told her "two oldest friends" and her husband, David Benioff, about her breast cancer diagnosis, but initially held off on telling their kids, Frances, 18, Molly, 15, and Henry, 11, because there was "nothing definitive to say".

After the Whole Nine Yards actress' MRI scan in January, the radiologist found a "second mass in the same breast" and "ordered an MRI-guided biopsy, which is when a tumour sample is extracted while you're inside the big white imaging doughnut".

Following the procedure, the doctor told Amanda that "it was fifty-fifty whether or not there was more cancer".

The Saving Silverman cast member breathed a sigh of relief two days later when they "found out that the second mass was benign, and that I would only need a lumpectomy and radiation, not a double mastectomy or chemo", and Amanda told her children about her health ordeal.

And Amanda needed to "get myself together" before revealing her cancer diagnosis to Frances, Molly, and Henry.

She told E! News: "They've been great. I definitely had to get myself together before including them.

"The hard part was realising that nothing is certain and there was going to be no perfect time to tell them."