Actress Florence Pugh reveals secret health diagnosis

UK actress Florence Pugh has revealed her life has “completely changed” after discovering she was suffering from an invisible illness.

Florence Pugh’s “life has completely changed” ever since she was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and endometriosis last year.

During Tuesday’s episode of the She MD podcast, the UK actress revealed she froze her eggs after learning both conditions could lead to infertility.

“I just had this sudden feeling that I should go and get everything checked,” Pugh, 28, explained.

“I’d had a few weird dreams and I think my body was telling me. And I then asked my close friends if they knew any amazing gynaecologists and then I met [Dr. Thaïs Aliabadi].”

During her visit, Aliabadi — a world-renowned OBGYN and one of the podcast’s hosts — asked if she’d “ever had an egg count,” which she hadn’t.

“And I was like, ‘No, what do you mean? I’m so young. Why do I need an egg count?’” the Midsommar star recalled.

Florence Pugh revealed she was diagnosed with PCOS and endometriosis.

Pugh hadn’t discussed her diagnosis before. Picture: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images

The results indicated she had PCOS and endometriosis, which would explain the “pain” she experienced daily.

“It was just so bizarre because my family are baby-making machines. My mum had babies into her 40s, my gran had babies throughout …. she had so many kids as well,” she said.

“I just never assumed that I was going to be in any way different and that there was going to be an issue with it.”

Although Pugh “was never worried” about having kids before her diagnosis, the new information changed everything.

“Then of course, I learned completely different information, [at] age 27, that I need to get my eggs out and do it quickly, which was just a bit of a mind-boggling realisation,” she said.

“And one that I’m really lucky and glad that I found out when I did because I’ve been wanting kids since I was a child.”

Aliabadi explained that, when left “untreated,” endometriosis can “affect egg count and quality” and while PCOS patients “have a lot of eggs,” the “quality goes down after 30” — which was why she told Pugh to freeze her eggs as soon as possible.

Pugh has been open about her desire to start a family. Picture: Marleen Moise/Getty Images via AFP

Now that she has taken all the precautions, the Little Woman star hopes to move forward with her plans of having a child within the next five years.

Although the diagnosis led to a lot of changes, Pugh is grateful she has a platform to discuss her experience with others.

“I’ve been able to tell my friends about what I’m going through,” she said. “And since then, I think two or three of my friends have gone to go and get checked because of my findings and they’ve also found that they have the same thing.”

She added, “So already just by me learning the tiniest bit of information, it’s led for other women to go and check to see if they also have the same.”

Pugh previously dated Zach Braff until their split in 2021.

The star recently confirmed she was seeing someone new. Picture: Frederic J. Brown / AFP

In September, the Oscar nominee opened up to British Vogue about how her role in We Live in Time made her “want to be active in [her] decisions and actually live” — specifically when it comes to life outside of work.

“I was going through a lot of weird stuff with relationships last year and I think part of the story is to not be passive, is not to let things wash over you. I want to go and find love and I want to have babies,” she said.

“I’ve always been thinking about starting a family. I’ve wanted to have kids since I was a child myself. I love the idea of a big family.”

She also confirmed she was in a new relationship after her 2021 split from Scrubs actor Zach Braff, though kept the identity secret.

This story originally appeared on New York Post and was reproduced with permission

Originally published as Actress Florence Pugh reveals secret health diagnosis