Like many reproductive issues, polycystic ovary syndrome (aka PCOS) doesn’t get mentioned as a lot because it ought to, particularly given how common it is. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that PCOS impacts 8 to 13 p.c of reproductive-aged lady all around the world, however that up 70 p.c of ladies with PCOS are undiagnosed. That’s why it’s so essential to boost consciousness about this dysfunction, and why we all the time applaud when celebrities with PCOS step ahead to share their tales.
PCOS is a hormonal situation that impacts girls of reproductive age, and it happens when your ovaries or adrenal glands produce an excessive amount of of a “male” hormone known as androgen. PCOS can include quite a few disagreeable and critical signs, together with cysts on the ovaries, pelvic ache, pimples, extra hair development on the physique, baldness or thinning hair, and infertility. That mentioned, no two individuals expertise PCOS the identical, as this group of celebrities with PCOS proves. Whereas some like Lea Michele struggled with weight acquire and pores and skin points, others, like Victoria Beckham, have opened up about their irregular periods and struggles with infertility.
The extra we unfold the phrase about PCOS, the extra probably individuals are to acknowledge their signs, discuss to their physician, and presumably get therapy, which is why these tales are so essential. And past that, if you happen to do have PCOS, it helps to really feel much less alone — and extra understood — when these round you communicate out about it. “PCOS just isn’t even one thing that we hear about usually,” Keke Palmer told SheKnows in 2021. “However I feel [talking about it] was very releasing and likewise very vindicating.” Maintain studying to find out about these celebrities’ journeys with PCOS.
-
Florence Pugh
Picture Credit score: Bryan Bedder/Selection. Florence Pugh wasn’t recognized with PCOS till age 27, she shared on the SHE MD podcast in 2024. Receiving the analysis in the summertime of 2023 was a shock, the We Reside in Time actress defined, as a result of it meant that she may need difficulties having kids — one thing the opposite girls in her household had by no means skilled. “My household are baby-making machines,” she defined. “My mother had infants into her 40s. My gran had … so many children as properly. I simply by no means assumed that I used to be going to be in any manner totally different and that there was going to be a difficulty with it.”
Pugh, who was diagnosed with endometriosis on the similar time, determined to freeze her eggs to extend her probability of getting kids, because the eggs of PCOS sufferers usually degrade in high quality after age 30 — one thing Pugh known as “a little bit of a mind-boggling realization.” She shared her expertise to boost consciousness concerning the situation, which many individuals could not understand they’ve. “That is such a easy dialog that we needs to be having once we begin our intervals or once we begin having intercourse,” Pugh acknowledged. “It actually, actually mustn’t take this lengthy for somebody to seek out out about this analysis.”
-
Keke Palmer
Picture Credit score: Rebecca Sapp / Stringer by way of Getty Pictures Keke Palmer opened up about her PCOS expertise in a weak Instagram post in 2020. PCOS, she wrote, “has been attacking me from the within out my whole life and I had no concept.” The Nope actress posted photos of her pores and skin and shared that her pimples had gotten so dangerous, “individuals in my area supplied to pay for me to get it fastened.” It wasn’t till Palmer appeared into her household historical past and located patterns of diabetes and weight issues (each of which will be linked to PCOS) that she was in a position to get a analysis. “My household struggled for years and no physician may assist them,” Palmer wrote. “It’s solely due to what my household sacrificed that enables me to even have the sources to share the knowledge.”
-
Victoria Beckham
Picture Credit score: Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin by way of Getty Pictures Victoria Beckham first opened up about her PCOS expertise whereas attempting to get pregnant together with her fourth baby, Harper. “Each time I am going out, somebody says to me, ‘Are you pregnant?’” the style powerhouse instructed Now journal on the time. After first attempting to dodge the questions, Beckham ultimately “resorted to overt, brutal honesty,” she mentioned. “I maintain that massive smile and say one thing like, ‘Really, I’m fighting infertility due to my PCOS, so my husband and I’ve been by way of a number of fertility therapies. No child but, however it’ll occur quickly!’”
-
Lea Michele
Picture Credit score: Jenny Anderson / Stringer by way of Getty Pictures Lea Michele skilled extreme pimples and fluctuating weight as signs of PCOS. “Rising up, I had horrible pores and skin,” the Glee alum instructed Health in 2020. She went on contraception to assist, however when she determined to go off the medicine in her late 20s, the pores and skin issues got here again — together with weight acquire. She was recognized with PCOS and has since been in a position to handle her signs by way of weight loss program, acknowledging that she’s “very lucky” to take action. “There are far more excessive variations of PCOS that girls have a number of problem with,” she defined.
-
Victoria Monét
Picture Credit score: John Nacion/Selection Victoria Monét obtained candid about the way in which PCOS has affected her weight in an Instagram Tales submit in 2024. In response to People, the Grammy-winning artist posted a photograph from her efficiency at Coachella that confirmed Monét onstage with the moon behind her, together with the caption, “Welp.. I gained a number of weight and it went a number of locations lol face, arms, tummy and most successfully… datassss.” Monét revealed that PCOS was inflicting her weight acquire, writing, “I often am so essential and annoyed by it as a result of PCOS has me actually tousled.” This time, although, the singer was taking a extra humorous method. “Optimistically, no less than now there’s two moons on the stage,” she mentioned, including a crying face emoji.
-
Sasha Pieterse
Picture Credit score: Amy Sussman/Getty Pictures Sasha Pieterse started experiencing signs of PCOS as a teen, when she starred on Fairly Little Liars. “I by no means had an everyday interval,” she lately mentioned on The Squeeze podcast. When Pieterse was round 15 or 16 years outdated, she continued, “I began noticing a distinction in simply my metabolism basically. At 17, I gained 70 lbs. within the yr, for no cause. There was no clarification for it.” Including to the issue was the truth that Pieterse was on-camera whereas experiencing these physique modifications. The actress mentioned she visited “over 15 gynecologists” earlier than she was lastly recognized by an endocrinologist. Pieterse feared she’d have problem getting pregnant on account of PCOS, she instructed People in 2020, however she was in a position to conceive naturally and gave delivery to her son later that yr.
-
Emma Thompson
Picture Credit score: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Pictures Emma Thompson conceived her daughter, Gaia, by way of IVF when Thompson was 40. However the therapies have been unsuccessful when Thompson started to strive for a second baby, and he or she quickly discovered that PCOS was affecting her fertility. “I might have desperately appreciated to have had extra kids,” the actress mentioned on the time, per Express, including that she processed “an terrible lot of grief” after discovering she wouldn’t be capable of have extra organic kids. Thompson and her husband Greg Sensible ultimately adopted a second child, Tindyebwa Agaba Sensible, just a few years later.
-
Bebe Rexha
Picture Credit score: Neilson Barnard/Getty Pictures for The Recording Academy Bebe Rexha opened up about her PCOS signs — and her suggestions for treating them — in a candid TikTok in 2024. One symptom: her irregular intervals. “February was 28 days, I had my interval for 20 days,” Rexha mentioned within the since-deleted TikTok, per People. “I had 10 days on my interval, per week off, after which one other 10 days.” Different months, she gained’t get her interval in any respect. “Tremendous, tremendous irregular,” she mentioned.
Rexha additionally skilled weight acquire associated to insulin resistance, one other doable aspect impact of PCOS. “I gained a number of weight in like 4 years. Like, lots,” the singer mentioned, regardless of going to excessive measures to drop pounds — like burning 700 energy in a exercise and solely consuming 1400 energy per day. Whereas taking medicine like Metformin has helped Rexha regulate her cycle, she mentioned she nonetheless offers with painful cysts, breakouts, and bloating from the situation.
-
Sofia Richie Grainge
Picture Credit score: Gilbert Flores/Selection by way of Getty Pictures Sofia Richie Grainge’s PCOS analysis got here comparatively early: the mannequin was 16 when she was recognized by Dr. Thais Aliabadi, who described Grainge’s signs as pretty gentle. “As a teen, I had actually actually dangerous pimples, my weight would fluctuate… I felt very moody on a regular basis,” Grainge recalled on Dr. Aliabadi’s podcast, SHE MD. Grainge underwent testing and Dr. Aliabadi checked her ovaries earlier than confirming the analysis and placing Grainge on contraception to handle her signs.
-
Daisy Ridley
Picture Credit score: Chris Jackson/Getty Pictures Daisy Ridley was recognized with endometriosis at age 15, however it wasn’t till years later — when her pelvic ache returned, together with pores and skin points — that the Star Wars actress realized one thing else was up. “Lastly discovered I’ve polycystic ovaries and that’s why it’s dangerous,” she wrote in a now-deleted Instagram submit in 2016, per Teen Vogue. Ridley was in a position to clear up her pores and skin points after reducing out dairy and reducing her sugar consumption, however inspired her followers to concentrate to their well being points and get assist once they want. “To any of you who’re struggling with something, go to a health care provider; pay for a specialist; get your hormones examined, get allergy testing; carry on prime of how your physique is feeling.”
-
Nikki Bella
Picture Credit score: Bravo by way of Getty Pictures Former professional wrestler Nikki Bella has one son, Matteo, with husband Artem Chigvintsev, however her PCOS analysis as soon as had her revising her timeline for motherhood. “I’m on this unlucky scenario the place I’m 36 and everyone seems to be reminding me, ‘Your eggs, your eggs,’” Bella mentioned in a 2019 interview with Health. “I additionally discovered I’ve PCOS… I’m getting brown spots throughout my face, pimples, weight fluctuations, and hair loss. I really simply discovered and was devastated. You analysis it, and there’s no remedy. I simply pray I’ve some fertile eggs left and that I can nonetheless be a mother.” Bella gave delivery to Matteo in July 2020.
-
Harnaam Kaur
Picture Credit score: Jeff Spicer / Stringer by way of Getty Pictures Harnaam Kaur was recognized with PCOS at age 12 — sooner than most — after she started experiencing facial hair development. “I caught out like a sore thumb, so it was straightforward for individuals to harass me,” the mannequin and activist instructed ITV in 2022. “I used to be very weak — I knew I appeared totally different.” She waxed her facial hair for years till, at age 16, Kaur determined to embrace it and let her beard develop out. The consequence? Kaur has change into a global movie star together with her personal magnificence model, Harnaam Kaur Magnificence, whereas holding the Guinness World Record for youngest feminine with a full beard. After coping with psychological well being points and bullying whereas rising up, Kaur has now discovered to rejoice every part that makes her distinctive. “I’ve realized that this physique is mine,” she defined. “I personal it, I wouldn’t have some other physique to dwell in, so I could as properly find it irresistible unconditionally.”
-
Romee Strijd
Picture Credit score: Marc Piasecki/Getty Pictures Victoria’s Secret mannequin Romee Strijd opened up about her PCOS expertise in 2020, whereas asserting her first being pregnant on Instagram. “[Two] years in the past I obtained recognized with PCOS after not getting my interval for 7 years,” Strijd wrote. The information was devastating, she went on, as a result of changing into a mother and beginning a household “is my greatest dream.. I used to be so scared that I might by no means be capable of as a result of I obtained instructed it was more durable to get infants in a pure manner.” Strijd dealt together with her signs by scaling again the depth of her exercises, not limiting meals, and taking breaks from her hectic schedule when wanted. “I’m so comfortable and grateful to say that I obtained my interval again final november AND that WE’RE SOON A FAMILY OF THREE,” she wrote.
-
Jamie King
Picture Credit score: Arturo Holmes/Getty Pictures Actress, mannequin, and activist Jaime King struggled to conceive for years, going by way of 5 miscarriages, an ectopic being pregnant, and 5 rounds of IVF, she mentioned in a 2022 interview with Yahoo. She now has two sons, however her problem getting pregnant was partially on account of her undiagnosed PCOS. She skilled heavy intervals and painful cramps in her teenagers and was ultimately recognized with each PCOS and endometriosis. “My bleeding was so heavy. I’d bleed by way of every part — by way of tampons, by way of my pants, onto the mattress,” King mentioned, describing the expertise as “horrific.” “I by no means knew what was occurring as a result of as a lady, I used to be taught that we’re simply alleged to cope with ache,” she added. “That ache is simply the pure state of menstruating, and that’s what girls need to cope with and undergo and to simply mainly suck it up.”
-
Jools Oliver
Picture Credit score: David M. Benett/Getty Pictures Mannequin Jools Oliver had lengthy questioned if she’d have bother conceiving given her irregular cycle as a teen. When Oliver started attempting to get pregnant together with her husband, movie star chef Jamie Oliver, she was “fairly rapidly recognized with polycystic ovarian syndrome, which meant that I wasn’t ovulating every month like regular,” Oliver instructed People in 2009. She underwent fertility therapies and finally gave delivery to 3 daughters.
