Kathy Bates Reveals Why She Decided Against Reconstruction After Breast Cancer: ‘I Enjoy Not Having Breasts’

Kathy Bates is opening up about her decision not to have reconstruction surgery following her breast cancer diagnosis 12 years ago.

While speaking on the latest episode of the MeSsy with Christina Applegate & Jamie-Lynn Sigler podcast which aired on Tuesday, Nov. 12, Bates, 76, noted that she enjoyed “not having breasts” after undergoing a double mastectomy following her breast cancer diagnosis in 2012.

Bates, who also previously had ovarian cancer in 2003, recalled a friend being “concerned” that she’d chosen not to have reconstruction surgery.

“I decided not to have reconstruction ’cause at the age I was, I thought, you know, I really don’t wanna go through that. I just didn’t wanna go through it,” she said.

“You know, I wasn’t in a relationship, I was older and I didn’t think I would be in a relationship, and it’s always kind of like, why do I have to?” Bates continued.

“This is really weird maybe but I had really heavy breasts. They were like 10 pounds when they removed them. Really big, big breasts and I kind of enjoy not having breasts … it’s strange,” the Titanic star told the podcast.

Bates said that during filming for the TV drama Matlock, in which she plays Madeline Matlock, they would “devise this really cool” kind of “camisole” made of material similar to Spanx.

“Very thin straps, and they put little, you know, false-y cups in it, and they’re so comfortable … they give me a nice shape,” Bates, who underwent a mastectomy because of her family history with cancer, shared.

“I feel so good when I go out like that. For a while, I just didn’t go out with any prophylactics or at all, you know, or I went out with them and they’re hot and heavy and they made me unhappy,” the star continued.

Elsewhere in the episode, Applegate, 52, spoke about her 2008 breast cancer diagnosis and double mastectomy.

The Dead to Me star told Bates she did opt for reconstructive surgery, sharing, “But I don’t have nipples and I don’t really care about that part. I don’t need them. I’m totally fine.”

“Like you could go out with a tank top without a bra and there’s no like pokey guys coming out,” she joked.

Bates spoke to PEOPLE in 2018 about being diagnosed with stage 1 ovarian cancer back in 2003. The then-55-year-old immediately underwent surgery and nine months of chemotherapy to treat it, but didn’t reveal her illness to the public.

“I didn’t tell anybody,” she shared at the time. “I continued to work right after the operation, doing Little Black Book with Brittany Murphy. My agent at the time was very old-school and didn’t want me to be the poster child for ovarian cancer. I didn’t want anyone to know, but it really took a lot out of me.”

However, in 2012, she did reveal her breast cancer diagnosis after deciding to have a double mastectomy. “My aunt had died from it, my mother had it, my niece had it,” Bates previously noted to PEOPLE.