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Cote de Pablo's terrifying health scare in her own words and how it impacted her family

The former NCIS star opened up about her health


ncis cote de pablo heartbreaking health revelation
Hanna Fillingham
US Managing Editor
On 27 October 2022
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Cote de Pablo is a much-loved actress, best known for her role as Ziva David in NCIS.

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The star is relatively private, but has previously opened up about her personal life in a bid to help raise awareness and help others.

Cote spoke out about a terrifying health scare she faced back in September 2015, in a video for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, revealing that she had a cervical cancer scare, that not only impacted her, but her loved ones.

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In footage, she said: "Cancer, we don't want to think about it, but I had to, because well - I was busy. Working, travelling, enjoying life, completely forgot to pay attention to my health.

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"Too much time passed since my last Pap.

By the time I was tested, things didn't look too good. We thought I might have cervical cancer. "I was lucky, after lots of worries, no cancer.

"I've always been very close to my mother, when we finally got the results, she broke down. And that's when I realised, it's not just about me, it's about your loved ones too."

Cote de Pablo for Inside Knowledge PSA (:60) Version A

Former NCIS star Cote de Pablo opened up about her health scare

The star went on to urge women to get a Pap test: "So women, get a Pap test to test for cervical cancer. Pay attention to your health, for you and for the people who care about you."

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Luckily since her health scare, Cote has been fit and healthy. Fans of NCIS are always hopeful that the star will one day make a return to the show - having left back in 2016 before making a surprise return to the show in seasons 16 and 17.

While there are no plans at the moment, the show's executive producer Steve Binder told TV Line back in 2020 that he is always open to the idea of the star returning.

ncis cote de pablo heartbreaking health revelation

The actress played Ziva David on NCIS

"It's always going to be, 'Let's not grab Cote and stick her in.' It's, 'Let's come up with a story first, and see if it's something worthy of bringing that character back,'" he explained.

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"We've really played, for now, all of the cards there are to play [with Ziva], so we have no plans at the moment," he said, "but we're certainly always open to it."

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