The 'Killers of the Flower Moon' actor embraced bold fashion and Indigenous designers after her diagnosis and double mastectomy.
When Cara Jade Myers turned 40 last December, the actor decided it was time for a routine health checkup. "I was like, 'When you're 40, you get a mammogram,'" she recalls. That screening revealed dense tissue in both breasts, setting off a chain of follow-up appointments—X-rays, ultrasounds, and biopsies—that culminated in a February diagnosis of stage 1 breast cancer. "I remember getting into the car with my husband and just bawling my eyes out," Myers says. "It's just scary: Cancer is a very scary word."
The timing could not have been worse for her career. Following her commanding performance as Anna Kyle Brown in Martin Scorsese's *Killers of the Flower Moon*, the Indigenous actor had appeared in films including *Day of Reckoning* and *Icefall*. Now she had to decline opportunities, turning down "a miniseries and feature film because of the [ensuing] surgeries." Yet Myers considers herself fortunate: just three weeks after diagnosis, she underwent a double mastectomy, followed by reconstructive surgery in July. "Everything happened so quickly that I'm still processing the fact that I even had cancer," she says. "In a way, it was a good thing: I didn't have time to sit with it or process it."
Finding herself through fashion
The experience left an unexpected mark on Myers's relationship with clothing. Initially, recovery proved challenging. After the mastectomy, surgeons inserted expanders—"these really hard-ass placeholders that your skin heals around"—leaving her in an uncomfortable in-between state where nothing fit. Even after reconstruction, she struggled: "They are so much denser than natural breasts—my balance is off."
But this summer, something shifted. "After getting cancer, I just wanted to wear this big pink cloud," Myers explains. "I just bought a bunch of pink tulle, pink shoes, and went to town." As her strength returned, so did her confidence. "The more you gain your strength back, the more fearless you get [with dressing]," she says. "I've had my chest cut open twice on an operating table—if I can survive that, I can survive people judging me and not liking my outfit."
A bolder red-carpet presence
September offered the perfect testing ground. Myers attended the 2026 Toronto and Vancouver International Film Festivals to promote *How We Stand*, Marie Clements's drama costarring Amber Midthunder about Indigenous women affected by 1950s relocation programs in Los Angeles. Without a stylist, Myers curated looks herself, prioritizing Indigenous designers.
In Toronto, she wore a cream Creators Kidz Co. suit with laser-cut details—spotted at Santa Fe Indian Market, where she went backstage to request it—and a dramatic black K. Lookinghorse gown with a train she adored. In Vancouver, she selected Jamie Okuma's graphic black-and-white turtleneck gown and a colorful striped off-the-shoulder dress, accessorized with Jennifer Younger earrings and turquoise necklaces by her father, Terrence R. Campbell. "It's so important to me to wear Indigenous artists," Myers emphasizes.
Her philosophy has fundamentally changed. "I've become more fearless in my wardrobe," she says. "In the past, I've always been so worried about standing out. But getting cancer made me realize: 'Why am I making myself smaller?' The last 40 years have gone so fast, so for the next 40, I'm going for it."
Off-duty, Myers has embraced thrifting—recently scoring spiked Christian Louboutin heels—and dressing up for "cute date nights" in Los Angeles. Beyond personal transformation, she hopes to encourage early screening and empower fellow survivors. "I was surprised by the age at which people get breast cancer," she notes, having spoken with survivors diagnosed in their early 30s. "I'm coming out of this stronger than ever, and I want to see people being empowered after cancer."