Celebrity Moms Share PCOS Struggles: Kailyn Lowry, Nikki Bella and More

Many celebrity moms have opened up about the symptoms and fertility struggles associated with PCOS — details

Parenting with PCOS. Lea Michele, Kailyn Lowry and more celebrity moms have spoken candidly about their struggles with polycystic ovary syndrome over the years.

The Glee alum revealed her diagnosis to Health magazine in January 2020, seven months before giving birth to her son, Ever.

“Through diet, I have been able to manage it,” the actress said in January 2020 of the hormonal condition, which is characterized by unpredictable periods, acne, body hair and weight gain, according to WebMD. “But I am very fortunate. There are way more extreme versions of PCOS that women have a lot of difficulty with — mine is not as intense. Which is why I haven’t really talked about it, because there are women who have it so much more intense.”

In March of the following year, the New York native spoke in more detail about how PCOS complicated her ability to conceive and carry her baby boy.

“You have extremely irregular periods. You never really know when you can get pregnant,” the singer explained in an Instagram Live with Katherine Schwarzenegger at the time. “On top of that, I had to have multiple procedures to remove polyps and cysts and scar tissue. I’d had my third procedure and was down from taking these medications and healing from surgeries. I was like, ‘Let’s just stop.’ … I kept thinking, ‘Maybe this isn’t meant to be for me. Maybe this isn’t going to happen.’ It’s something that for me, personally, was always my biggest fear in my entire life. It’s what I’ve wanted more than anything. Emotionally, it just started to build and build. … Then we got pregnant.”

While expecting Ever, Michele bled “terribly [and] horribly” and was “put on bed rest.”

As for Lowry, the Teen Mom 2 star found out about her PCOS after giving birth to four sons — Isaac, Lincoln, Lux and Creed.

“I was having such heavy periods,” the MTV personality said during a “Coffee Convos” podcast episode in March 2021. “I was bleeding through three and four changes of clothes per day during my period … and I would bleed through my mattress. I would bleed through everything.”

The Pennsylvania native’s diagnosis was “overwhelming,” she added. “The medication has insane side effects, and I’m just trying to figure out the best ways to manage the symptoms because the diagnosis came just as fast as the symptoms came. So, it’s just kind of all new and overwhelming. But we’re gonna figure out a way to manage it, and we’ll work it out. It’ll be fine.”

Keep scrolling to hear from more celebrity moms struggling with the disorder, from Pretty Little Liar’s Sasha Pieterse to Spice Girls’ Victoria Beckham.