In 1985, Radner was experiencing severe fatigue and suffered from pain in her upper legs on the set of Haunted Honeymoon in the United Kingdom.
She sought medical treatment, and for a period of 10 months, various doctors, most of them in Los Angeles, gave her several diagnoses that all turned out to be wrong because she continued to experience pain.

During those 10 months, she faced hardships such as the publication of Hill and Weingrad's highly publicized book about Saturday Night Live, which provided many details about her eating disorder as well as the financial failure of Haunted Honeymoon, which grossed only $8,000,000 in the United States, entering the box office at number 8, then slipping to 14 the following week.
As Radner wrote in It's Always Something:
On July 26 [1986], Haunted Honeymoon opened nationwide.
It was a bomb.
One month of publicity and the movie was only in the theaters for a week – a box-office disaster.

Finally, on October 21, 1986, Radner was diagnosed with stage IV ovarian cancer.
She immediately underwent surgery and had a hysterectomy.
On October 26, surgeons removed a grapefruit-size tumor from her abdomen.
Radner then began chemotherapy and radiation therapy treatment, as she wrote in It's Always Something, and the treatment caused extreme physical and emotional pain.

After her diagnosis, the National Enquirer ran the headline "Gilda Radner In Life-Death Struggle" in its following issue.
Without asking for her comment, the editors of the publication asserted that she was dying.
Radner wrote in It's Always Something:
They found an old photo of me looking frightened from a 'Saturday Night Live' sketch and blew that up to make the point.
What they did probably sold newspapers, but it had a devastating effect on my family and my friends.
It forced Gene [Wilder] to compose a press release to respond.
He said that I had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer, had had surgery, and my prognosis was good.
The Enquirer doesn't like good news, so the Gilda Radner story stopped running.

Four months after her ordeal with the National Enquirer, Radner saw her Saturday Night Live castmates one last time at Laraine Newman's 35th birthday party (in March 1987).
According to Bill Murray when he heard she was leaving the party, he and Dan Aykroyd carried her around the Los Angeles house where the party was held, repeatedly saying goodbye to everyone.
In 1985, Radner was experiencing severe fatigue and suffered from pain in her upper legs on the set of Haunted Honeymoon in the United Kingdom. She sought medical treatment, and for a period of 10 months, various doctors, most of them in Los Angeles, gave her several diagnoses that all turned out to be wrong because she continued to experience pain.
During those 10 months, she faced hardships such as the publication of Hill and Weingrad's highly publicized book about Saturday Night Live, which provided many details about her eating disorder as well as the financial failure of Haunted Honeymoon, which grossed only $8,000,000 in the United States, entering the box office at number 8, then slipping to 14 the following week. As Radner wrote in It's Always Something:
On July 26 [1986], Haunted Honeymoon opened nationwide. It was a bomb. One month of publicity and the movie was only in the theaters for a week – a box-office disaster.
Finally, on October 21, 1986, Radner was diagnosed with stage IV ovarian cancer. She immediately underwent surgery and had a hysterectomy. On October 26, surgeons removed a grapefruit-size tumor from her abdomen. Radner then began chemotherapy and radiation therapy treatment, as she wrote in It's Always Something, and the treatment caused extreme physical and emotional pain.
After her diagnosis, the National Enquirer ran the headline "Gilda Radner In Life-Death Struggle" in its following issue. Without asking for her comment, the editors of the publication asserted that she was dying. Radner wrote in It's Always Something:
They found an old photo of me looking frightened from a 'Saturday Night Live' sketch and blew that up to make the point. What they did probably sold newspapers, but it had a devastating effect on my family and my friends. It forced Gene [Wilder] to compose a press release to respond. He said that I had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer, had had surgery, and my prognosis was good. The Enquirer doesn't like good news, so the Gilda Radner story stopped running.
Four months after her ordeal with the National Enquirer, Radner saw her Saturday Night Live castmates one last time at Laraine Newman's 35th birthday party (in March 1987). According to Bill Murray when he heard she was leaving the party, he and Dan Aykroyd carried her around the Los Angeles house where the party was held, repeatedly saying goodbye to everyone.
Gilda Radner