Brooke Shields has recently opened up about a medical procedure that resulted in an extra addition that she didn’t ask for.
The Pretty Baby actor recently spoke with Us Weekly to discuss her upcoming memoir Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old: Thoughts on Aging as a Woman, which hits shelves on January 14. During her interview, she detailed her gynecologist asking her at one point if her labia ever caused her any discomfort.
The model admitted that she had experienced discomfort, including bleeding and chafing since she was in high school, which was when her doctor informed her that she could undergo a labia reduction.
“Of course, it’s not covered by insurance because it’s considered cosmetic, which is very interesting. The last time I did check, I did not want to be a porn star,” Shields told Us Weekly, adding that she had heard of porn stars receiving the surgery for aesthetic reasons.
After deciding to go through with the surgery, she recalled being at a post-op checkup with her male plastic surgeon, who revealed to her that he had done more than just a labia reduction.
“He informed me that he threw in a little bonus,” Shields said.
Her surgeon had also given her a vaginal rejuvenation which the Mayo Clinic describes as a procedure meant to improve the elasticity and strength of the vagina and its surrounding tissues.
“It felt like such an invasion — such a bizarre, like, rape of some kind,” she said about the added procedure.
She said she was “dumbfounded” over how her surgeon “proudly explained to me that he, you know, threw in a little twofer.”
Nothing “pointed toward this need to be tighter or smaller or firmer or younger, especially there,” she emphasized.
After she learned of the surgeon’s unasked-for modification, she said she didn’t want to talk about it, even keeping it a secret from husband Chris Henchy because of the “shame” and “anger” surrounding the situation.
Despite The Blue Lagoon actor’s decision not to pursue legal action, she did decide to share her story in her upcoming memoir.
“I’d be lying if I said I’m not embarrassed to share this very intimate information,” Us Weekly cites the memoir. “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.”
This isn’t the first time Shields has waited years to publicly discuss specific aspects of her life.
In 2023 the model discussed her documentary, Pretty Baby, and how it recounted her experience with sexual assault during a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
“It has taken me many years of therapy to even be able to talk about it,” she told the publication at the time. “I definitely have worked very hard through it, and I’ve learned to process it. And I’ve come to a place, and we’ve come to a time in our society, where we can talk about these things much more openly. I had no idea I was going to say it.”
