Lupita Nyong’o: Oscar winner suffers from uterine myoma

In 2014, Lupita Nyong’o (42) was the year of her greatest professional triumph, but at the same time a year full of pain. In the same year, in which the actress won the Oscar for “12 years a slave”, 30 benign growths were discovered in the uterus: so -called uterine myoma. The Oscar winner now made this public and openly spoke about her experience with the disease.

“In March 2014 I won an Academy Award,” Nyong’o wrote to a selfie from the Dolby Theater. “In the same year I discovered that I have uterine myoma.” The actress describes that she had 30 of the fibroids. Then she asked her doctor if she could do something to prevent a return. “She said, ‘You can’t do that. It is only a matter of time for you to grow again,” recalls Nyong’o.

With her post, Lupita Nyong’o wants to draw attention to the topic as part of the “Fibroid Awareness Month”: uterine myoma are benign fibroids that grow in or on the uterus. While some affected people feel no or only mild symptoms, others – like Nyong’o – suffer from severe pain, excessive bleeding, chronic exhaustion or an enormous feeling of pressure in the lower abdomen. According to Nyong’o, black women are often affected than white.

In her statement, the actress criticizes the medical undersupply and the social handling of female pain. “When we reach puberty, we are involved that periods mean pain and that this pain is simply part of the fraud,” said the actress. When she spoke about the disease in a private context, Nyong’o found that many other women share the experience.

She now wants to break the silence: “We have to stop treating this problem as a chain of unfortunate circumstances. We have to reject the normalization of female pain,” said Nyong’o. It demands: better provision, early diagnoses and a serious social examination of the health needs of women.

Together with democratic congress members and senators, the actress is now also politically committed to changes: new legislative initiatives are intended to strengthen research on uterine myoma, promote public education and facilitate diagnoses. Nyong’o also supports the award of a medical research grant that specifically focuses on the reproductive health of women.