Kathy Bates is opening up about her decision not to undergo reconstruction surgery after being diagnosed with breast cancer 12 years ago.

While speaking in the last episode of the MeSsy with Christina Applegate and Jamie-Lynn Sigler In the podcast that aired Tuesday, Nov. 12, Bates, 76, noted that she enjoyed “not having breasts” after undergoing a double mastectomy following her breast cancer diagnosis in 2012.

Bates, who had also had ovarian cancer in 2003, recalled that a friend was “worried” because she had decided not to have reconstruction surgery.

“I decided not to have reconstruction because at the age I was I thought, you know, I really don’t want to go through that. “I just didn’t want to go through that,” he said.

“You know, I wasn’t in a relationship, I was older and I didn’t think I would be in a relationship, and it’s always like, why do I have to do it?” Bates continued.

“This is really weird, maybe, but I had really heavy breasts. They were like 10 pounds when they took them out. Really big, really big breasts and I enjoy not having breasts… it’s weird,” she said. Titanic the star told the podcast.

Bates said that during the filming of the television drama Matlockin which she plays Madeline Matlock, “they would come up with this really cool kind of ‘camisole’, made of a Spanx-like material.

“Very thin straps and they put fake cups on it, you know, and they’re very comfortable…they give me a good shape,” Bates, who underwent a mastectomy due to her family history of cancer. , shared.

“I feel so good when I go out like that. For a while, I just didn’t go out with any prophylactics or anything at all, you know, or I went out with them and they were hot and heavy and made me unhappy,” the star continued.

Elsewhere in the episode, Applegate52 years old, spoke about her 2008 breast cancer diagnosis and double mastectomy.

He dead to me The star told Bates that she opted for reconstructive surgery, sharing, “But I don’t have nipples and I don’t really care about that part. I don’t need them. I’m totally fine.”

“Like you can go out in a T-shirt without a bra and there are no tiny guys coming out,” she joked.

Bates spoke to PEOPLE in 2018 about being diagnosed with stage 1 ovarian cancer in 2003. The woman, then 55, immediately underwent surgery and nine months of chemotherapy to treat it, but did not reveal her illness to the public.

“I didn’t tell anyone,” he shared at the time. “I continued working immediately after the operation, doing Little black book with Brittany Murphy. My agent at the time was very old school and didn’t want me to be the poster boy for ovarian cancer. “I didn’t want anyone to know, but it really cost me a lot.”

However, in 2012, she revealed her breast cancer diagnosis after deciding to undergo a double mastectomy. “My aunt had died from it, my mother had it, my niece had it,” Bates previously told PEOPLE.