Supermodel Bianca Balti, 40, flashes a beaming smile as she leaves a press conference during the Sanremo Music Festival amid her cancer battle

Bianca Balti was pictured flashing a radiant smile as she left a press conference during the Sanremo Music Festival in Italy on Wednesday, amid her cancer battle.

The supermodel, 40, is co-hosting the four day event with Carlo Conti, months after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer last year.

The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover star, who wore a headscarf, appeared in great spirits as she left the venue beaming with a bouquet of flowers.

For the occasion, Bianca opted for business chic in an oversized grey blazer and matching trousers, which she wore with a leather jacket.

Bianca completed her chemotherapy journey on January 27 but admitted it 'isn't quite over yet'.

She shared a health update in a touching Instagram post to mark World Cancer Day on February 4.

She wrote: 'February 4th. World Cancer Day. It has always been just a random day that some posts on Instagram reminded me of.

'Although my aunt died of metastatic breast cancer at age 39 and my mom got myeloma a couple of years ago.

'And despite my own diagnosis, back in 2021, of carrying the BRCA1 gene for which, in December 2022, I underwent a preventative double mastectomy.

'Cancer couldn’t inhabit my thoughts, let alone my body.

'Until September 8th of 2024, the day that Cancer, Ovarian to be specific, came into my life feeling a whole lot like a death sentence.

'On October 14th, I started my chemotherapy journey that just ended last Monday, January 27th, but to my great surprise, those last few months, I felt as alive as ever.

'I was not taking my life for granted anymore, and my gratitude hit an all-time peak. Everything started to taste like a real blessing.

'It has been hard, and it isn’t quite over yet, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

'They say, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” but my experience is that what didn’t kill me made me love life a lot more.'

In September 2024, Bianca revealed she had been diagnosed with cancer after checking herself into the hospital over excruciating 'abdominal pain.'

The beauty announced her devastating diagnosis in an Instagram post on September 15, in which she admitted it had been a week 'full of fear, pain and tears.'

The mother-of-two - who was Sports Illustrated Swimsuit's Rookie of the Year in 2017 - revealed that upon checking into the emergency room she discovered she had stage 3C ovarian cancer, which meant that the disease had spread to the outside of the pelvis.

Still smiling in a hospital gown, she insisted that she was remaining positive and was sure she was going to 'beat' cancer.

She explained that her diagnosis, which has a five-year survival rate of 39 per cent, had helped her find the 'beauty through life's hurdles.'

According to Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance, stage 3C ovarian cancer means that the disease is present in one or both fallopian tubes and has spread to the organs outside of the pelvic region.

It may have also spread to the lymph nodes, liver or spleen.

Treatment for this aggressive form of cancer includes surgery and chemotherapy.

In 2022, Bianca underwent genetic evaluation following a series of medical woes and discovered that she was a carrier of the BRCA1 gene, which is found in those with breast or ovarian cancer.

Along with the discovery of being a carrier, Bianca learned that she had a 50 per cent chance of being diagnosed with breast cancer and a 30 per cent chance of being diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

By December 2022, she underwent a preventative double mastectomy.

At the time, she told Vogue: 'I wasn't sick, yet — but I knew the chances were much higher that I would be one day. And I now had the free will to do something about it.

'The hardest part of this entire process has been the fear. Of finding out the diagnosis, the unknown, of taking time off work, of not knowing how my body will look.'

Bianca is a mom to 17-year-old daughter Matilde, whom she shares with ex-husband Christian Lucidi. The couple was married from 2006 to 2010.

Following their separation, Bianca tied the knot to Matthew McRae in 2016. They share daughter Mia, nine, together.