Scene from the 2025 TV series Dying for Sex

When My Best Friend Was Diagnosed With Terminal Cancer, She Left Her Marriage and Embarked on a Daring Sexual Journey

Nikki Boyer and Molly Kochan had been inseparable for two decades—two women in their forties who shared everything. So when Molly ended her 13-year marriage and dove into dating again, Nikki heard every risqué detail: from the mechanic who kissed her in the back of a luxury car, to the foot-fetish German model, to a Ryan Reynolds lookalike. 

But this wasn’t a typical midlife reinvention story. Molly was dying of cancer.

Facing a terminal diagnosis, Molly chose to chase the one thing she felt she had missed—sexual fulfillment. She set off on what she termed “sexcapades,” meeting over a hundred men in her final years in a quest to feel fully alive.

Her journey is now the subject of Dying For Sex, a bold, emotional new series streaming on Disney+. The FX series stars Michelle Williams as Molly and Jenny Slate as Nikki, based on their acclaimed 2020 podcast of the same name.

The show doesn’t shy away from its frank portrayal of sexuality and illness. It’s funny, poignant, and taboo-shattering.

Best friends of almost 20 years, Nikki and Molly (right), who spent her last few years deliberately seeking out men for what she called 'sexcapades'

Molly passed away in March 2019 at age 45, but she left behind a story that challenged cultural boundaries. In her words: “Sex is about life… it counters death.” Her journey wasn’t just about pleasure—it was about reclaiming a sense of autonomy and intimacy cancer tried to erase.

Nikki, an actress and producer known for 90210 and Lie to Me, met Molly at an LA acting class in 2000. Though Molly transitioned to writing and ran an online magazine, their friendship endured. Nikki supported her through her first battle with breast cancer in 2011. But when the disease returned in 2015, it spread to Molly’s bones, liver, and brain.

By then, her marriage was already strained. During a couple’s therapy session where she learned her cancer was terminal, her husband’s reaction was to steer the conversation back to his own anger. That moment clarified things: Molly ended the marriage and decided to pursue what had long been denied—intimacy on her own terms.

“I was so proud of her,” said Nikki. “To choose life in the face of death—that was incredibly brave.”

Molly wasn’t told how long she had left, but she and Nikki were honest about the end. Still, Nikki worried. Molly was entering risky situations with strangers from dating apps. Though independent and street-smart, Nikki insisted Molly call if anything felt off. She even offered to pick her up anytime.

Molly moved into the guest room at home and dove into her new lifestyle. “It became like a full-time job,” Nikki joked. They once tried counting Molly’s flings and gave up at 188. A stunning blonde with striking blue eyes, Molly met men both online and in real life. Some stayed for weeks, others for hours.

She never revealed her diagnosis beforehand. She wanted to be seen not as a patient, but as a woman. Strangely, not one of the men ever asked about her scars or the port in her arm used for chemo.

She was careful with photos, cropping out tubes and signs of treatment. For Molly, those moments weren’t about illness—they were about escape.

Jenny Slate as Nikki Boyer (left) and Michelle Williams as Molly Kochan in new comedy drama Dying For Sex, an eight-part series streaming on Disney+

In 2016, she moved into her own LA apartment. She had never felt so alive. Though she appeared confident, Nikki noted that Molly’s earlier sex life had been far less adventurous. Now, she tried everything—from a mechanic who made out with her like a teenager to a man who loved being tickled to orgasm. One model had a toe fetish. Another, resembling Ryan Reynolds, wanted her to kick him. She even dated a clown-mortician who performed for Cirque du Soleil by day and worked in a funeral home by night.

Molly’s passion gave her bursts of energy even during treatment. “She was a phenomenon,” Nikki recalled. “Days of exhaustion would be followed by this unstoppable drive.”

The idea of turning these stories into a podcast came when Molly casually told Nikki she’d already been on two dates that morning. But it wasn’t all fantasy. One disturbing incident involved a man she called Joe, who assaulted her. Her therapist later identified it as rape. “I hate that she had to go through that,” Nikki said. “But I wasn’t surprised. Sometimes, we find what we’re trying to resolve.”

Molly wasn’t just chasing sex. She was healing. As a child, she’d been molested by her mother’s boyfriend. Her mother sought legal advice but was warned against pursuing charges. That trauma, Molly later said, split her in two—leaving her terrified of intimacy and vulnerable to control. Her marriage had been an attempt to find safety, not connection.

But the cancer diagnosis shattered that illusion. “That’s the moment I became fragmented,” she said. So she sought wholeness through sexual exploration.

“She didn’t want to live in fear anymore,” Nikki said. Even in her final months, Molly kept writing, flirting, and dating. Incredibly, she had one last romantic moment in her hospital bed—with a model named George—while hooked up to an IV.

When she passed away, Nikki and Molly’s mother Joan were at her side. Nikki believes Molly touched her fingers one last time—despite being nowhere near her hand. “I told her I was there. That I had her.”

During filming, Nikki constantly felt Molly’s presence. “I’d talk to her in the car, asking if things felt right,” she said. Molly’s voice still echoed in her head with humorous critiques: “I wouldn’t have worn that shirt.” Nikki laughed. “I probably rolled my eyes and said, ‘Really, Molly?’ But I was proud of her.”

The series is both a tribute to their friendship and to Molly’s relentless spirit. Nikki was occasionally shocked by her friend’s wild choices, but she couldn’t deny how they lit her up. When she contacted several of Molly’s lovers, they were heartbroken. George called her “magical.” The clown-mortician was devastated.

Not everyone will understand Molly’s choices. Nikki knows that. “If all someone sees is: ‘She was promiscuous,’ maybe her story isn’t for them.” Molly never cared what others thought—and neither does Nikki.

What mattered was that Molly lived fiercely. “She didn’t roll over and say, ‘Well, I guess this is it.’ She lived—beautifully and boldly—until the very end.”

Dying For Sex is now streaming on Disney+.