Featured Image Credit: Instagram/@brookeshields/Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Fortune Media
Topics: Health, Beauty, Brooke Shields, Celebrity, US News
Rhianna Benson
Topics: Health, Beauty, Brooke Shields, Celebrity, US News
After revealing that her doctor once gave her a 'throw in' surgery during a scheduled labiaplasty, Brooke Shields has explained why she felt it was important to share her story.
The American actress is set to recall the horrific encounter in her upcoming memoir, and has this week spoken to press about why now was the perfect time to speak out.
In her tell-all book - titled Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old: Thoughts on Aging as a Woman - the 59-year-old will recount on the agony she went through since her school years, caused by the length of her labia.
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Not only did the movie star suffer chaffing down there, but the friction would often cause bleeding.
As such, after she and husband Chris Henchy welcomed their two children - daughters Rowan, 21, and Grier, 18 - her 'wonderful' gynaecologist recommended she undergo labia reduction procedure.
Little did she know, however, that the medic would go on to throw in a 'little bonus' during the procedure.
As well as shortening her labia, the doctor gave Shields a full-fledged vaginal rejuvenation, a more extreme procedure whereby the female genital tissues surrounding the vagina were tightened, reshaped, or reduced entirely.
The latter often sought in a bid to increase sexual satisfaction.
Shields also told Us Weekly about the procedure this week ahead of her book's release, claiming she was 'dumbfounded' when her surgeon 'proudly' announced the news.
The Blue Lagoon star went on to admit that she subsequently battled severe shame, and refused to tell her husband about the secondary procedure 'for the longest time'.
So, why has she spoken out now?
Well, Shields suddenly felt motivated to recount her experience - even though she was worried it was 'too graphic or simply TMI' - so as to reassure other victims they've nothing to feel ashamed about.
“If we are to change the way we approach and talk about women’s health," she wrote in her book, an excerpt of which the publication obtained. "Then we need to bring up the uncomfortable but very real issues.
"I’d be lying if I said I’m not embarrassed, to share this very intimate information.
"But, if we are to change the way we approach and talk about women’s health, then we need to bring up the uncomfortable but very real issues. Shame is no longer an option."
Though she is not seeking any legal action on the matter, Shields says her experience has left her with scars.
"It felt like such an invasion — such a bizarre, like, rape of some kind," she confessed.
"Nothing pointed toward this need to be tighter or smaller or firmer or younger, especially there."