Every day it seems like there is a Black woman coming out to share their struggle with uterine fibroids. Many of them have similar stories about not knowing they had fibroids until they started on their journey to get pregnant and having to get a myomectomy to get the fibroids removed. Fibroids are tumors that grow in the wall of the uterus and they are almost always benign.
However, so many women suffer from them. According to Mayoclinic.org, approximately 80% of Black women will develop fibroids in their lifetime. Some of the symptoms include heavy menstrual bleeding, frequent urination, pelvic pressure or pain, and more. Unfortunately, there are no known causes for fibroids.
Eve is the latest celebrity to open up about her struggles with fibroids. While gushing over her pregnancy, the rapper spoke with Tamron Hall about her struggle with infertility and first learning about having fibroids. Eve and her husband Maximillion Cooper were trying to get pregnant but were having a difficult time conceiving.
“Something said to me, something's not right in my body,” Eve said. “And I wound up going to a specialist. She’s like, ‘Don’t care, you can do 20 rounds [of IVF]. You can have all the sex you want. You’re never going to get pregnant because you have so many fibroids and your uterus already thinks that it’s already taken over, it’s already pregnant.’“
She continued, “My periods were horrible, which was another thing, and the specialist I went to, she was like ‘you know your periods aren’t supposed to be painful?’“
“All my life, since I was a kid, I just thought we’re women, we’re girls, you go through painful periods. That’s what we’re told. And we did a myomectomy, a procedure where they go in and take out these fibroids. My first period after that I actually cried because that was the first time in my life I didn’t have pain,” she said.
Eve also said that once she revealed to girlfriends about her fibroids, they also shared that they dealt with the same thing proving that we should have more conversations about this health issue.
Here are other women who have been vocal about their fibroids.
Tamron Hall
During her conversation with Eve, the talk show host revealed that she too dealt with fibroids when she began her IVF journey.
“Even I had IVF and when we were implanting my son’s egg, there was a point where we had to stop because I had fibroids,” she said.
FKA Twigs
FKA Twigs detailed a scary story about her fibroids in 2018. The singer shared an Instagram post in December of that year where she revealed she had laparoscopic surgery to remove six large fibroids that she described were the size of “two apples,” “two kiwis,” and “a few strawberries.”
“A fruit bowl of pain everyday. the nurse said that the weight and size was like being 6 months pregnant,” she wrote.
Porsha Williams
When Porsha Williams was pregnant with her daughter Pilar, she was hospitalized due to complications from fibroids.
Talking withPeople in September 2018, the former Real Housewives of Atlanta star opened up about her journey with fibroids. “I’ve had a miscarriage before in my past, which I’ve also been open about because I suffer with fibroids and had to have a myomectomy,” she said.
“So just the fear of, ‘Is the baby going to be okay? Will I make it full term?’ All those questions that you ask if you’ve had a miscarriage before.”
Featured image by Rich Fury/Getty Images for The Recording Academy