“The chemo destroyed my thyroid”: Katerina Jacob suffers from Hashimoto

TV star Katerina Jacob (66) has survived breast cancer, but she is still struggling with the after-effects of the disease. “Unfortunately, I was told at the beginning of this year that I had Hashimoto,” she says in an interview with spot on news: “The chemo destroyed my thyroid.”

The actress hasn’t lost her sense of humor and can be seen on Friday (January 24th) at 8:15 p.m. in a new edition of the series “Anna and her lodger” on Das Erste. In “Suddenly Mother-in-Law” her character Anna has to deal with her daughter’s future father-in-law. Things can also be turbulent in Katerina Jacob’s own family, as she also reveals in the interview. She saw her daughter Josephine Jacob’s (43) partner, actor Roger Cross (55), for the first time in a spaceship.

Katerina Jacob: I would have reacted even more drastically. Anna’s daughter Karin has been dating someone for a year and doesn’t say a word to her mother, even though everyone else already knows. Only when the wedding is coming up does she speak up. What a disgrace! The oven would have gone out and I would have gone crazy. My own daughter has already brought something similar…

Jacob: She called me back then and said that she was dating two people and said that one of the candidates was incredibly polite. That’s what I advised her to do – until she revealed that he was an actor. I then explained to my daughter that I had invested an incredible amount of money in raising her so that she could hire a banker, a lawyer or, ideally, a veterinarian. That would really reduce our monthly expenses. But no, it had to be an actor.

Jacob: My daughter told me an Enterprise episode he was in. He played the captain of a spaceship. When I watched this crap, I first pondered about my own profession and wondered what actors do. Then the passage in question came and I thought: It can’t possibly be the man in the picture. I saw an older specimen with a massive body in a red latex outfit. When my daughter called, she explained to me that what I thought was fat was muscle, that he was twelve years older than her and that he was from Jamaica. But I was only convinced when I met him without his spaceship uniform and mask. There stood in front of me an incredibly great looking man who actually had muscles. And I was really jealous.

Jacob: I think all three boys like me. My husband also has two daughters. We get along very, very well with everyone.

Jacob: I’m usually responsible for the kitchen. My husband grills, I do the rest. I start cooking three or four days in advance because the flavors are so different, it’s a logistical challenge. But we get it done every time and it’s always fun. We have eleven nationalities in the family, everyone gets along and celebrates together.

Jacob: That has become less and less recently due to my health. We still have an apartment in Austria, where I mainly stay now. I am still under control after my cancer. Now she also has to undergo very serious dental surgery because the chemotherapy has destroyed her teeth. At least it’s my first time getting nitrous oxide and I’m looking forward to it.

Jacob: Unfortunately, I was told at the beginning of this year that I have Hashimoto’s. As if that stupid cancer wasn’t enough, now they add this icing on top. The chemo destroyed my thyroid.

Jacob: It made me incredibly fat. Now a team of specialists is working on getting my fat back. That means: I’m not allowed to eat any carbohydrates at all, no sugar, one egg a week, no sea fish at all… That’s a disaster. I’m a vegetarian and now I’m supposed to eat meat all the time. That’s why I found an organic farm in the Allgäu that carries out pasture slaughter. This is where I get my meat from. I also can’t tolerate lactose and gluten. My menu has reduced to such an extent that no one wants to come to eat with me anymore.

Jacob: I have to do the Hashimoto treatment for a year. My metabolism is initially set to zero. There are also a lot of tablets and powders, it’s horrible. I always have to mix something. The gluten intolerance remains, but I will be able to resume lactose. I can also eat fish again afterwards. The treatment has worked quite well so far. I’ve already lost two kilos and hope to have lost six to seven kilos by the time I start filming again. I recently weighed 100 kilos and am 1.64 meters tall. That’s pretty intense. I hope to have lost 20 kilos by the end of the year.

Katerina Jacob started her career in the 1970s. In addition to stage engagements, she has appeared in numerous film and TV roles. She became particularly famous for the series “Der Bulle von Tölz”, in which she appeared alongside Ottfried Fischer (71) from 1995 to 2005. She has been celebrating success with “Anna and Her Subtenant” since 2020, and “Suddenly Mother-in-Law” is already part four of the successful series. This time Herbert Knaup (68) and Anke Sevenich (65) appear in guest roles.