This year, many celebrities have come out to share their struggle with uterine fibroids, noncancerous tumors that grow in or on the muscular wall of the uterus. Tamar Braxton and Cynthia Bailey are two of the latest to share their journeys with the health condition. The celebs joined ABC news anchor Linsey Davis who revealed for the first time that she’d been battling uterine fibroids.
During the interview, Braxton explained that she assumed her menstrual cycle was just “a heavy, ridiculous, normal period” that comprised “insane cramps” and nausea. However, she later learned it was more serious and she had uterine fibroids.
“I didn’t know that it was fibroids, I thought that it was a normal period,” Tamar said when recounting her symptoms, which started when she was younger. “A heavy, ridiculous normal period where you miss school, you have insane cramps. It would be to the point where I would feel nauseous. Couldn’t get out of bed and I would be exhausted and the exhaustion came from having extreme anemia.”
During the chat, the singer revealed that hysterectomies have been common in her family, sharing that Tracy, Toni, and her mother Evelyn all had the surgery. A hysterectomy involves the removal of the uterus, and sometimes other related organs like the ovaries and fallopian tubes.
Davis also shared that she got a hysterectomy to try to resolve her challenges with fibroids.
“I guess I just want to be final. You just want to be finished,” Davis said. “It causes me enough angst and grief, and planning my day differently, accordingly, that I really feel like I’m ready to be finished with this journey.”
Severe bloating is one of many symptoms of fibroids, which all three ladies said they have experienced. Bailey, 58, said fans have speculated that she’s pregnant many times over due to said bloating.
“I stayed on the celebrity baby bump alert. Like I was always giving ‘(I’m) pregnant with imaginary children’ because of my fibroids,” Bailey said. “And I was shutting down on rumors, I was like, ‘I’m not pregnant, I have fibroids.'”
Earlier this year, celebrities like actress Lupita Nyong’o and tennis icon Venus Williams also shared their stories to spread awareness about the health condition.