Patti Hansen reveals being diagnosed with breast cancer 'wasn`t a shock'

By Isla Harvey Nov 10, 2011, 19:53 GMT

Celebrities from fashion and entertainment arrive an event at the Urban Zen Center in the West Village in NYC, during a heavy downpour of rain. - Johns PKI/Splash News

Keith Richard’s wife Patti Hansen has revealed that she was determined not to feel sorry for herself when she discovered that she had breast cancer.

The 55-year-old former supermodel speaks candidly about her battle with the deadly disease in the latest issue of Town & Country magazine, in which she is interviewed alongside her daughters Theodora, 26, and Alexandra, 25.

“It was depressing,” she says. “But it wasn’t a shock that I had cancer. I wasn’t like, ‘Oh woe is me’, you know? I just felt, ‘OK, well that’s my number [sic]’.”

But for her daughters, the discovery that their mother had the disease was petrifying.

“It was absolutely terrifying. Really, Mum is the glue that holds us all together,” Theodora tells the magazine.

Her sister Alexandra reveals that the Rolling Stones guitarist, 69, also fell to pieces at the news.

“Dad did not take it well,” she says. “We all wanted to stay strong for him.”

Luckily, Hansen has since made a full recovery and has recently launched a range of handbags with her best friend.

“Keith’s very amused by it,” she reveals. ”He’s like, ‘Oooh, you can be the breadwinner’.”