The Real Housewives of Atlanta star Porsha Williams has spoken publicly for the first time about the devastating health battle that led to an emergency hysterectomy.
“I found out I had fibroids the same day I found out I was pregnant. I was 30, trying for my first child, and dealing with fertility issues that had landed me with a specialist,” Williams, 45, wrote in a Glamour essay published Friday, September 18. Williams shares 7-year-old daughter Pilar Jhena McKinley with her ex, Dennis McKinley. “The fibroid outgrew that pregnancy, and I ended up having a miscarriage at four months.”
The reality TV star said her struggle with uterine fibroids continued in the years after the loss. “I had a myomectomy a year later, but they grew back while I was pregnant with my daughter, Pilar,” she recalled. “She outgrew the large one that returned, fighting through it, which is why she’s my rainbow baby. During my last month of pregnancy, I was on bed rest while the fibroids degenerated. It was painful, but I was so thankful my little miracle baby pushed through.”
Following Pilar’s birth, however, Williams said the fibroids “came back with a vengeance.”
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Williams underwent fibroid embolization in an effort to protect her fertility, as she remained unsure whether she wanted another child. “I got fibroid embolization, hoping to preserve my fertility, since I didn’t know yet if I wanted more kids and wasn’t ready to have that choice made for me. It seemed to work,” she wrote. “Then my divorce [from Simon Guobadia] hit, and with it came stress I hadn’t planned for.”
She later sought care from a fibroid specialist, who confirmed that the growths had returned. “She called with the results: a little over 15 large fibroids in my uterus, plus endometriosis and another diagnosis involving the uterine lining,” Williams recalled. “As we sat in her office, she told me I needed a hysterectomy.”
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As she faced the alarming diagnosis, Williams learned that doctors would remove her uterus while preserving her ovaries.
“During the surgery, they found 21 fibroids total. The largest was the size of a cantaloupe,” she said. “I woke up after the surgery and thought, ‘A part of me is gone.’ Fibroids aren’t something we usually talk about as women, and neither are hysterectomies. There’s a stigma to it, as if you’re somehow less of a woman without your uterus.”
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Williams struggled with the decision to have lifesaving surgery at the expense of her fertility.
“I didn’t have a choice about the hysterectomy, but it saved my life. My quality of life has improved 100 percent since,” she continued. “I hadn’t realized the fibroids were behind my migraines, my low iron levels, or how stressed my body had been just from everyday life. I’d also lost my ability to have sex, since the fibroids had grown large enough to close off more than 60 percent of my birth canal, and put my bladder at risk from their sheer weight.”
Williams concluded: “Now I take snapshots of every single moment with my daughter. I’m even more present, more grateful, because when I look at her, I see a true miracle. I’ve always called her my lifesaver, since she gave me my purpose, and now that feels even more true. I really was chosen to be her mom.”