Former supermodel Janice Dickinson has revealed that she has been diagnosed with breast cancer.

The former Celebrity Big Brother contestant and America’s Next Top Model judge said she received the news about two weeks ago.

Janice Dickinson at Ariana and the Rose (Ariana Di Lorenzo) at Charlotte Ronson After Party
Janice Dickinson (Sylvain Gaboury/AP)

Lisa Bloom, a lawyer for the model, said: “Janice is going to fight and she will not let this diagnosis define her. She wants to encourage all women to have regular check-ups as that is how her cancer was discovered.”

Janice, 61, told the Daily Mail that a “pea-size” lump was found on her right breast during a visit to a doctor and three days later she had a mammogram and biopsy. She will undergo surgery and radiation therapy.

“I became fearful,” she said of the diagnosis. “But not for myself. I was fearful for my two children. My fiance, my loving fiance Rocky.”

“When I got the news, this was very, very difficult. My son called me and I had to tell my son the news. But when I heard my son choke, he said, ‘I haven’t cried in 20 years’. I said, ‘me either’. I wasn’t crying then either,” she said.

“It’s a proud moment to know that I’m so loved and so lucky. Today I got very scared. I just got scared. It hit me.”

She added: “Don’t feel sorry for me, this is not a pity party, I’m Janice Dickinson and I’m gonna stick around for a long, long time, you ain’t getting rid of me yet.

“It’s still quite shocking. You know, I’ve had plastic surgery and I’ve had breast implants and I’ve always been very vocal of what I’ve done, because I tell the truth about everything. As I am right now.”

Janice Dickinson arrives at the LA Premiere of "What Now" at Laemmle Music Hall,
Janice arrives at an LA film premiere (Rich Fury/AP)

She has sued Bill Cosby for defamation and the comedian’s lawyers will argue for the case’s dismissal during a hearing in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

Janice has attended recent hearings in the case, which focuses on denials by Cosby’s camp of her claims the comedian drugged and raped her in Lake Tahoe, California, in 1982.