Wanda Sykes being outrageous – that’s expected. But for the actress-comedian to be serious? That’s rare. Even when the issue is personal.

In this case, it was also health-related, when she admitted for the first time, to Ellen DeGeneres during an interview to air Monday on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, that earlier this year she had breast cancer and then elected to have a mastectomy.

“I had breast cancer,” says Sykes, 47. “Yeah, I know it’s scary.”