10 Celebrities Who Opened Up About Having a Hysterectomy

For some stars, that has meant getting candid about having a hysterectomy -- which is the  surgical procedure of removing the uterus. Thousands of women undergo the surgery every year for various reasons, including endometriosis or a cancer diagnosis. While it can be an incredibly tough decision to go forward with the procedure, many celebrities have stepped forward to help others by sharing their own experience.

Find out what these celebrities had to say about their hysterectomy…

1. Kris Jenner

Kris Jenner recently revealed that after a doctor discovered a cyst and small tumor on one of her ovaries. While she initially was just going to have her ovaries removed, Kris and her team eventually made the decision to have a full hysterectomy. Kris admitted that having the surgery was an emotional experience because she was removing the part of her that had carried all of her children.

“It’s interesting that in today’s day and age, this generation thinks you guys are gonna live forever and you’re not. I did it, they found something, we’re here to fix it and I’m gonna do something and remove something that gave me six of the best parts of my whole life,” Kris said on an episode of The Kardashians.

She continued, “I think I’m very emotional about it because when you’re young, you start talking about wanting to have a family, it was all we talked about for 40-50 years. Here we are talking about it again and it's the other side of the process and it makes me really sad.”

2. Olivia Munn

In early 2024, Olivia Munn revealed that she had privately been battling luminal B breast cancer for almost a year. Shortly after being diagnosed, Olivia underwent a double mastectomy and began intensive treatment with the help of her doctors. She was later put into medically induced early menopause and put on an estrogen-suppressing drug, as her type of cancer feeds in the presence of estrogen. When the medication had adverse effects, she decided to have a hysterectomy and oophorectomy, which removed her uterus, fallopian tubes, and ovaries.

“It was a big decision to make, but it was the best decision for me because I needed to be present for my family,” she shared with Vogue. “I had friends try to cheer me up by saying, ‘Malcolm’s not going to remember this. Don’t worry.’ But I just kept thinking to myself, ‘I’m going to remember this, that I missed all these things.’ It’s his childhood, but it’s my motherhood, and I don’t want to miss any of these parts if I don’t have to.”

3. Amy Schumer

Amy Schumer had been struggling with painful periods and ovulation for her entire life before doctors decided to perform a hysterectomy and remove her uterus which had been ravaged by endometriosis. During the surgery, her doctors also discovered cysts in both her ovaries and scarring all over her core. They also found a tumor in her appendix, which had been affected by endometriosis.

Following the surgery, Amy shared that she was “feeling stronger and thrilled about life.” She added that all of her “lifelong pain” was finally explained and had been “lifted out of [her] body.”

“I felt like a new person. It was incredible,” she later shared on The Checkup with Dr. David Agus. “I feel like someone lifted this veil that had been over me and I just felt like a different person and like a new mom.”

4. Angelina Jolie

In 2015, Angelina Jolie decided to undergo a hysterectomy. Doctors had previously informed her that she carried a mutation of the BRCA1 gene, which increases the risk of developing breast cancer and ovarian cancer. Prior to her hysterectomy, Angelina had already had a preventive double mastectomy.

“My doctors estimated that I had an 87 percent risk of breast cancer and a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer, although the risk is different in the case of each woman,” Angelina shared in a New York Times op-ed. “Once I knew that this was my reality, I decided to be proactive and to minimize the risk as much I could. I made a decision to have a preventive double mastectomy.”

Two years after her mastectomy, blood tests revealed worrying markers. Combined with the fact that she had lost her grandmother, mother and aunt to cancer, she decided to proceed with the hysterectomy as well as removal of her ovaries and fallopian tubes.

“It is not possible to remove all risk, and the fact is I remain prone to cancer,” Angelina later shared. “I will look for natural ways to strengthen my immune system. I feel feminine, and grounded in the choices I am making for myself and my family. I know my children will never have to say, ‘Mom died of ovarian cancer.’”

5. Camille Grammer

Camille Grammer underwent a preventative radical hysterectomy in 2013 after learning that she had been diagnosed with early-stage endometrial cancer. Camille, who has a genetic history of cancer, then underwent chemoradiation and was able to beat cancer. While she was able to overcome the disease, she admits it was not an easy process.

“Not only does one have to endure the surgery and the awful chemo and radiation aftermath, but after a radical hysterectomy, one’s body changes as a result of surgical menopause and a smaller va-jay-jay,” she wrote in a blog for Bravo. “After the surgery, I experienced hot flashes and a waning libido. It’s difficult feeling sexy after all of this. You are adjusting to life in remission with little sex drive, night sweats, and a host of other new gifts after such treatment. I am very grateful to have beaten my cancer, but it has been tough adjusting to my new normal.”

Thankfully, Camille says she had a strong support system around her and she has since been able to be an advocate for other women going through the same thing.

6. Lena Dunham

For years, Lena Dunham struggled with endometriosis and tried to cure her chronic pain with the help of numerous doctors as well as “pelvic-floor therapy, massage therapy, pain therapy, color therapy, acupuncture, [and] yoga” -- all to no avail. When the pain became so intense that she could no longer function in 2017, she checked herself into a hospital until doctors could figure out what was wrong or agreed to perform a hysterectomy.

When doctors finally decided to proceed with removing Lena’s uterus, they discovered that her condition was far worse than they had anticipated.

“In addition to endometrial disease, an odd humplike protrusion, and a septum running down the middle, I have had retrograde bleeding, a.k.a. my period running in reverse, so that my stomach is full of blood. My ovary has settled in on the muscles around the sacral nerves in my back that allow us to walk. Let’s please not even talk about my uterine lining. The only beautiful detail is that the organ -- which is meant to be shaped like a lightbulb -- was shaped like a heart,” Lena shared in an essay for Vogue.

7. Viola Davis

Viola Davis had dealt with uterine fibroids for many years before ultimately getting a hysterectomy. In her early 30s, she had a surgery to remove the growths, which can cause heavy bleeding and infertility. Then, several years later, she had a ​​myomectomy which removed 33 additional fibroids. Eventually, during a surgery on an abscessed fallopian tube, she had her uterus removed, jokingly telling her doctor that if she woke up and her uterus was still there, she was “going to kick [his] ass.”

8. Fran Drescher

Shortly after Fran Drescher was diagnosed with stage 1 uterine cancer, with a malignant tumor on the endometrial lining of her uterus, she opted to undergo a radical hysterectomy. After undergoing the procedure in 2000, Fran was left unable to have children -- but she’s used her platform to spread awareness about early detection and prevention of cancer.

“Suddenly I was a person who couldn’t have children. But I gave birth to a book, Cancer Schmancer, and launched a movement with the goal of transforming people from patients into medical consumers," she wrote in an essay for InStyle.

She continued, “The very word ‘patient’ implies passivity. F--k that. Take control of your body. Don’t ignore something and hope it goes away or drive yourself into an early grave because you feel like you have too much stuff to do for everyone else. That is a pitfall women often experience. I’m here to say, ‘Stop that!’ I almost feel like I got famous, I got cancer, and I lived to talk about it. So I’m talking.”

9. Dolly Parton

After being diagnosed with endometriosis in the early 1980s, Dolly Parton had a partial hysterectomy, which removed her uterus but left the cervix behind. The decision left Dolly unable to have children, which she says took her to a bad place mentally for some time. Looking back years later, she says not having children ended up being the right thing for her and her husband.

“Anyway, we talked about it, and we dreamed it, but it wasn’t meant to be. Now that we’re older? We’re glad,” Dolly told The Guardian. “I would have been a great mother, I think. I would probably have given up everything else. Because I would’ve felt guilty about that, if I’d have left them [to work, to tour]. Everything would have changed. I probably wouldn’t have been a star.”

10. Sandra Lee

When Sandra Lee was diagnosed with breast cancer, she decided to undergo a double mastectomy. She was set to have a hysterectomy shortly after but amid her mastectomy recovery, she pushed it off. When COVID hit, it got postponed again but after a gynecologist noticed a change in some of her cells, she decided it was finally time to undergo a hysterectomy.

“It’ll be an everything out procedure and after that, there won’t be any more halo of worry hanging over my head…I’m so grateful for his and everyone’s support, my friends and family have been incredible... Hopefully this will encourage anyone who needs to get a concerning procedure done to take the opportunity now so you can live as happy and healthy as possible. We must all live our best lives every day and in every way. With that I send you all the love in the world, your well wishes and prayers are appreciated more than you know,” she shared on Instagram at the time.