Amy Schumer has revealed she “felt like a new person” after undergoing surgery for endometriosis.
The comedian underwent a hysterectomy and an appendectomy to treat the disease in September 2021, and has opened up about her experience ahead of her appearance in a new docuseries.
Describing the condition as “a lonely battle” in a preview clip for The Checkup with Dr David Agus, which streams on Paramount+ from Tuesday (13 December), she said she felt the difference immediately following medical intervention.
“You tell someone you get really bad cramps, and they're like, 'Oh, it's being a woman, ' and you're like, 'no, it's irregular'”, she said.
“I've been in so much pain, you know, my whole life — not just the week of my period. It's during ovulation. I would hopefully get a good week a month where I wasn't in pretty significant pain, still trying to achieve, still trying to go through life. It's been really difficult,” she recalled.
Undergoing surgery has had a profound impact on her life, however.
“I felt like a new person. It was incredible,” she shared with Dr 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.”
The 41-year-old revealed that while she had incurred scars as a result of the surgery, she didn’t mind, saying: “I think scars are cool”.
The new documentary follows Schumer’s disclosure that she also suffers with trichotillomania – a disorder which compels its sufferers to pull out their own hair.
People with the condition routinely pull the hair from their scalp, eyebrows, beard or moustache in a compulsive way, often leaving bald patches on their scalp.
Speaking to the New Yorker in August, she revealed that she has a bald spot on the top of her head, quipping: “A yarmulke would cover it,” referencing the brimless cap traditionally worn by Jewish males.
The Trainwreck star admitted that the condition impacted her self esteem.
“The vulnerability of people knowing I pull my hair out, it feels very raw to me. . . . it’s, you know, bald spots,” she said.
“It’s, like, that’s what a monster and a goblin have.”
