Nicole Eggert was one of the biggest stars of the 80s and 90s, with roles in numerous hit TV shows including Who's the Boss?, Charles in Charge and Baywatch.
A child actress who successfully made the jump to adult roles, she reinvented herself in later years as a reality TV star, before becoming embroiled in controversy over sexual assault and harassment allegations against former Charles in Charge co-star Scott Baio.
Eggert, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2023, has become vocal about the warning signs of the disease, and last year juggled gruelling cancer treatment with her role as a producer on the 2024 documentary series, After Baywatch: Moment in the Sun.
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Former Baywatch and Charles in Charles star Nicole Eggert has been battling breast cancer since 2023. (Getty)Nicole Eggert was born in California on January 13, 1972.
Her mother, a talent agent, started entering Eggert in beauty contests as a small child.
At five, Eggert was crowned Miss Universe in the petite division.
This led to a role in a Johnson's baby shampoo commercial before she went on to find work as a child actor.
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An early publicity photo of Nicole Eggert. (Getty)At seven, she appeared in her first movie. The following year she won the role of Candice Bergen's daughter in the film Rich and Famous.
Numerous roles followed. She guest starred in TV shows such as Fantasy Island and TJ Hooker, and appeared in seven episodes of the hit show Who's the Boss?
In 1987, when she was 14, she joined the cast of Charles in Charge.
Nicole Eggert was 14 when she landed a role in the sitcom Charles in Charge. (Universal Television)The sitcom starred Scott Baio as Charles, who was a live-in housekeeper for the affluent Pembroke family before and then the Powell family in season two. Eggert played the Powell's eldest child Jamie.
She filmed 104 episodes of the show before it ended in 1990.
Eggert, from right, with the rest of the cast, including Scott Baio, back right. (Supplied)In 1992, she was cast as Summer Quinn in the long-running hit TV show Baywatch, and went on to star in 44 episodes of the show.
Throughout the rest of the 1990s and 2000s, she guest starred in TV shows and films, including Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding.
Nicole Eggert as Summer Quinn in Baywatch. In later years, she appeared on reality TV shows including The Real Gilligan's Island, Celebrity Fit Club and the celebrity diving show Splash.
She appeared in an episode of Botched to seek help with her breast implants and on Scott Baio Is 45... and Single, a reality TV show in which Baio and a counsellor tried to figure out why he was still single by revisiting former girlfriends.
More recently, she was a producer on After Baywatch: Moment in the Sun.
The 2024 documentary series featured interviews with the show's stars and never-before-seen home videos.
Relationships and children
Eggert has never been married.
She was engaged to another former child actor, Corey Haim, who died of lung and heart issues in 2010 at the age of 38.
The two had starred in two movies together, including the thriller Blown Away.
Nicole Eggert and Corey Haim in the film Blown Away. (X/@GeekVibesNation)Haim famously battled drug addiction throughout his life and disclosed he was a victim of sexual assault as a teen.
In recent years, Eggert opened up about his drug addiction, and told People that most of their two-year relationship, which included a brief engagement, was marred by his drug use, including frequent late night trips to the emergency room.
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"I didn't know what to do. I was like, just take him to the hospital if that's where he wants to go," she said.
In 1998, she gave birth to her first child, daughter Dilyn, whom she shared with actor Justin Herwick.
She has a second daughter, Keegan, who is 13. She has never publicly revealed the name of Keegan's father.
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Nicole Eggert shortly before her cancer diagnosis. (Instagram)Scott Baio allegations
In 2012, Eggert first made a series of allegations against her former co-star Baio, accusing him of having a sexual relationship with her before she turned 18.
The allegations resurfaced in 2017 and again in 2018, with Eggert making some claims on social media, including Twitter (now X).
Baio, who is 12 years her senior and was the star of the show, has denied anything sexual happened between the pair before she turned 18, but admitted the two had 'consensual sex' after she became an adult.
A former guest star came forward to back Eggert's claims.
Another actor, Alexander Polinsky, who played Eggert's younger brother, Adam Powell, on the show, also came forward in 2018 to accuse Baio of sexual harassment and abuse.
No charges were ever laid against Baio, who denied the allegations.
Breast cancer diagnosis
Eggert, then 52, revealed in December 2023 that she had been diagnosed with stage 2 invasive cribriform carcinoma of the breast, which spread to her lymph nodes .
She also revealed she missed several warning signs that she had cancer, mistaking them for menopause symptoms, including weight gain and changes to her breast.
She told Fox News Digital she noticed subtle changes in her body prior to the diagnosis.
"One thing I think back on is that suddenly my bra... kept moving and was fitting a little bit lopsided for a long time," she said.
"What I thought was, you know, our breast tissue is always growing and changing and as women, our breasts move, and gravity hits and all that.
"So, I kind of chalked it up to that [but] what was actually happening is that the tumour was taking up more space.
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The star is raising awareness about breast cancer symptoms she missed. (Instagram / Nicole Eggert)"The mass was making that breast bigger. So that's why my bra was not fitting properly."
Eggert said she also suddenly gained weight, which she said was caused by oestrogen, and started to experience a "throbbing in that area".
"And so I went ahead and did the self-exam as soon as I felt the throbbing. And I found it. And it was this moment of like, 'How did I not know that was there?'. So, those were my signs."
She has kept fans updated on social media accounts, including Instagram, throughout her treatment, which included chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy.
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Nicole Eggert with daughter Keegan attended Los Angeles Mission's 2024 Christmas celebration. (Getty)She told People last year that while her body "fully responded to the chemo" and meant there was "no detectable cancer in that area," she still had to undergo further treatment.
During a mastectomy carried out last September, doctors found the cancer was "more advanced than first thought."
In December, Eggert shared her distress at being tattooed ahead of starting radiotherapy.
"I didn't realise it was actual, real tattoos," she said, while struggling to hold back tears.
"It's nothing but dots, but boy, every step of this process is never gonna let you forget it, there's just always going to be a constant reminder."
Eggert, now 53, hosts the Perfectly Twisted with Nicole Eggert podcast while continuing to undergo treatment, which will include breast reconstruction surgery and a second mastectomy.
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