Lupita Nyong'o Opens Up On Feeling 'Shame' Amid Her Medical Condition

RunWithRugs · 2026-03-25T17:56:16+00:00

Lupita Nyong'o shared her emotional experience with fibroids, reflecting on feelings of shame and questioning her body. Diagnosed 11 years ago with over 50 fibroids, she confronted severe symptoms while hiding her struggles in public. Nyong'o discussed the difficult decision of surgery versus living with pain, highlighting women's health issues.

RunWithRugs

2026-03-25 17:56:16

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(MENAFN- IANS) Los Angeles, March 24 (IANS) Hollywood actress Lupita Nyong’o went into a different mindspace after she was told she had fibroids. The actress shared that she questioned what she did “wrong”, and was left feeling the “shame”.

The Wild Robot star, 43, was diagnosed with the condition, which sees non-cancerous growths developing in or around the uterus and can cause symptoms including long and heavy periods, and pain in the pelvis, back, and leg, 11 years ago, and she initially wondered why she hadn’t “protected” her body, reports ‘Female First UK’.

Talking about “suffering in silence”, the actress said on ABC News Live Prime, “It looked like shame. In the beginning I thought, 'What did I do wrong? What didn’t I do? How did I not protect my body? How did I not serve my body that it has betrayed me in this way?”.

Lupita told how she experienced “severe clotting” and a 30-day period during particularly tough times, and while in the spotlight she was “putting on a brave face”.

She added, "I was hiding in plain sight, because I was on these red carpets and prancing about and twirling, and putting on a brave face and acting like everything was OK. But in my private moments, I was dealing with heavy periods and severe clotting. At one point, I had a period for over 30 days. I was pre-anaemic and experiencing fatigue. I think as women, we are conditioned from when we’re in our adolescent years to expect pain, to expect discomfort. And we’re not taught how to observe our bodies”.

As per ‘Female First UK’, last month, Lupita told how she had “over 50” uterine fibroids.

She said on the Today show, "The first time I got the fibroids taken out, they took out 23. And this time, I’ve been informed two years ago that I have over 50. And I’m being faced with the same options. Surgery or live with the pain”.

At the time, the ‘A Quiet Place: Day One’ star was “not ready” to decide whether to have the fibroids surgically removed because of the “big threat” to any future family plans.

“I’m not ready to make that decision. "It’s quite invasive… and it’s a big threat to our reproductive organs”, she added.

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