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The Daily Dish

Here's How the Mall Is Helping Maria Menounos Recover from Brain Surgery

Pretzels are involved, too.

By Tamara Palmer

Maria Menounos is in surprisingly good spirits after undergoing surgery to remove a benign brain tumor, which was discovered amidst her mother's own stage 4 battle with brain cancer. And one of her local shopping malls has played an unexpected role in her recovery, but it's not retail therapy.

"So, the doctor has us on walking therapy and the Valley is too hot so we've become mall walkers, eating pretzels!" said her partner Kevin Undergaro in a video posted to Maria's Instagram. In the video, the couple are strolling slowly, but Maria has a warm smile on her face.

It's HOT outside ..#mallwalkers #beattheheat #healing #recovery #pretzels 😝

A post shared by maria menounos (@mariamenounos) on

Maria announced earlier this month that she would leave her role at E! News to regain her health.

“I didn’t cry. I actually laughed,” she told PEOPLE about her reaction to the MRI that discovered the golf ball-sized tumor. “It’s so surreal and crazy and unbelievable that my mom has a brain tumor — and now I have one too?”

The surgery was considered a success, with 99.9% of the tumor removed.

“[The doctor] said there’s a six to seven percent chance that we’ll see it come back,” she said to the publication. “But I’ll take those odds any day.”

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