"Together, we will fight this": RHOM star Julia Lemigova responds after wife Martina Navratilova announces her cancer diagnosis

Martina Navratilova recently revealed in an interview with Tennis.com that she has been diagnosed with two forms of cancer, Stage 1 of throat cancer and breast cancer. She also said that she was about to begin treatment next week.

Just hours after sharing the news on January 2, Martina’s wife and RHOM star Julia Lemigova posted a picture of the two of them and their dog on Instagram. She captioned the post:

"Thank you to everyone who has reached out to share words of support. Together, we will fight this."

Martina’s friends from her reality show posted many kind comments on her post. Martina and Julia have been married for 8 years and are raising 2 daughters, from Julia’s previous marriage to Édouard Stern.

---

Martina Navratilova was diagnosed with cancer once in 2010

Tennis legend Martina Navratilova was previously diagnosed with breast cancer in 2010 and underwent treatment for it. Since then, until recently, she has been cancer-free.

It was in the November 2022 WTA Finals of Fort Worth, Texas, that the 66-year-old noticed a “enlarged lymph node" in her neck. She had a biopsy done of the lymph node after the swelling did not go down and and the results showed that she had Stage-One throat cancer.

Another lump was found in her breast during one of the tests and Navratilova was then diagnosed with stage one breast cancer. It is worth noting that the two cancers are unrelated to each other.

After the diagnosis, Martina's agent shared that the prognosis is good and the tennis legend will start her treatment this month.

The agent also said that the cancer type is "human papillomavirus", which responds well to treatment. Martina will not be able to participate in the Australian Open but will make remote appearances for certain events.

---

Martina Navratilova and Julia Lemigova's relationship timeline

Martina and Julia met each other in 2000 during a party help for the French Open tournament. In the season 4 premiere of RHOM, Lemigova said that although they shared a look across the bar and Martina introduced herself, Julia decided to turn away at the time.

Eight years later, on the same day, the two bumped into each other during the French Open tournament and even had breakfast together the next morning.

Martina moved in with Julia just a couple of days after reconnecting, and the latter was nervous about coming out with a "popular sports figure." Julia’s kids encouraged her to come out and firmly told a couple of their friends,

"Yeah, we have two moms."

Julia appeared on RHOM season 4 with her partner Martina Navratilova and became the first gay member of the franchise. Martina proposed to Julia at the US Open in September 2014 and the pair married on December 15, 2014.

In the public proposal, Lemigova said that,

"I have been waiting for the right time to ask Julia to marry me. I thought this was the right place and the right time to pop the question and thankfully I got a yes."

They appeared on Married to a Celebrity: The Survival Guide in 2017 and shared their pet peeves about each other. Onthe show, Navratilova complained that her partner Julia was not romantic and did not surprise her often.

Currently, Julia Lemigova and Martina Navratilova live together in a Miami beach house and are empty nesters.