Earlier this year, Michelle Williams portrayed Molly Kochan in a television series where the character faces a cancer diagnosis, divorce, and embarks on a journey of multiple sexual encounters.
The narrative is a whirlwind of events, rooted in the real-life experiences of Molly, who tragically passed away in March 2019.
At 33, Molly was diagnosed with breast cancer. She decided to spend her remaining time documenting her sexual escapades with her best friend, Nikki Boyer, through a podcast.
After the podcast was acquired by Amazon’s Wondery, it inspired the comedy-drama TV series, Dying for Sex, which premiered in April 2025.
Molly, the central figure of the show, grew up in New York and later moved to Los Angeles with aspirations of stardom.
She settled in LA upon getting engaged, but in 2005, after finding a small lump in her breast, she visited a doctor.
In a blog post, Molly recounted how the doctor dismissed the lump as ‘nothing’ and assured her she was ‘way too young to worry about something like breast cancer.’
It was not until 2011 that the lump she had discovered was confirmed as breast cancer, which had metastasized to her lymph nodes.
By then, Molly was 38 and underwent various treatments including chemotherapy, a bilateral mastectomy, and radiation, followed by five years of hormone therapy. Sadly, in 2015, she discovered the cancer had returned, spreading to her bones, liver, and brain.
At this stage, diagnosed with Stage IV cancer, which was terminal, she initially confided only in her family and closest friends.
In a later interview with Fred Hutch News Service in 2016, Molly expressed: “It’s just something I’m going through, not who I am. I realize it’s something I will probably be dealing with forever. But I don’t want cancer to be my life.”
Upon learning her cancer had spread, Molly decided to separate from her husband, acknowledging they had been facing ‘difficulties’ even before her diagnosis.
This was not the only transformation Molly experienced, as her cancer treatment significantly heightened her libido. Consequently, she embraced her single status, diving into the dating scene.
In one podcast episode with Nikki, she remarked: “Being sexual is the antithesis to death. Sex also makes me feel alive and it’s a great distraction for being sick.”
Her best friend shared this sentiment.
Embracing her new single life, Molly explored everything from flirty texts to experimenting with various fetishes, reportedly engaging with 200 different partners.
This journey empowered her to reclaim her body and address past traumas.
Nikki, reflecting on Molly’s experience, stated: “Her whole life she felt fragmented and during sex she was allowed to make her own choices and put the pieces together for herself.”
Recognizing the potential of Molly’s story, the duo initially pitched it as a TV series.
When the television concept was rejected, they opted to launch it as a podcast instead.
Molly eventually passed away three years following her terminal diagnosis, but she managed to tell her story through a memoir before her death.
In her book, she revealed her pursuit of sex stemmed from a ‘desperate to fall in love.’
“[I] wanted to find my soulmate,” she wrote, adding: “It was a romantic human idea I wanted to belong to.”
However, Molly admitted she ‘obviously wasn’t dating the people who fit that mold’, but she realized they became ‘perfect catalysts in many ways’.
“And between those interactions, along with the ones with friends and family, I realize I did get to fall in love,” she expressed. “I am in love. With me.”
When Dying for Sex was adapted into a TV series, Nikki mentioned that although the show stayed true to life, it did take some creative liberties, such as setting the story in New York instead of Los Angeles.
Regarding the portrayal of their friendship on-screen, Nikki commented: “It very much feels like me and Molly, the core of us.”
Michelle Williams shared that she was personally moved by Molly’s story, expressing she was ‘bowled over’ by the podcast Molly and Nikki had produced.
Dying for Sex is available for streaming in the US on Hulu.