In March 2024, while celebrating a career milestone with an Academy Award win, Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o was quietly enduring a personal health battle uterine fibroids. Now, the Hollywood star is using her platform to bring awareness to a condition that affects millions of women, especially Black women, yet remains underdiscussed.
Uterine fibroids are non-cancerous growths in or around the uterus, ranging in size from a pea to a melon. While often benign, they can cause serious health issues such as heavy menstrual bleeding, anemia, frequent urination, and pregnancy complications. For Lupita, surgery was required to remove them, but her doctors warned there was no guarantee they wouldn’t return.
“What shocked me most,” Lupita shared in a candid social media post, “was being told by my doctor that I couldn’t do anything to prevent them from coming back.”
This revelation sparked her advocacy. Lupita pointed out the staggering reality that fibroids affect 8 out of 10 Black women, yet the condition is rarely addressed in public discourse. She criticized how society has normalized female pain, especially during menstruation, often brushing it off as something to be endured rather than investigated.
“It was only after I started speaking privately about my experience that I realized how widespread and silenced this struggle really is,” she said.
Determined to change the narrative, Lupita is calling for a cultural shift early education for teens, improved screening, research into prevention, and access to less invasive treatments. Her advocacy has taken her to Washington D.C., where she joined lawmakers to introduce a package of uterine fibroid congressional bills aimed at increasing research funding, early detection, and public awareness.
In addition, Lupita plans to launch a Uterine Fibroid Research Grant to fund innovations in non-invasive treatments, ultimately seeking to improve the quality of life for the estimated 15 million women in the U.S. affected by the condition.
“No more suffering in silence,” Lupita declared. “It’s time we prioritize women’s health and reject the normalization of their pain.”
