Amy Schumer is opening about her private battle with endometriosis. In a clip of the latest episode of the new docuseries The Checkup with Dr. Davis Agus, which is available to stream Tuesday on Paramount+, the comedian discussed the painful symptoms she faced while dealing with the disorder as well as the subsequent procedures she’s undergone to treat it.
“I’ve been in so much pain, you know, my whole life — not just the week of my period; it’s [also] during ovulation,” Schumer said noting that her pain, which began when she started her period, was ongoing for decades. “I would hopefully get a good week a month where I wasn’t in pretty significant pain, [but] still trying to achieve, still trying to go through life. It’s been really difficult.” According to the Office on Women’s Health, More than 11% of American women between the ages of 15 and 44 may be affected by endometriosis.
The Mayo Clinic defines endometriosis as a disorder in which “tissue similar to the tissue that normally lines the inside of your uterus — the endometrium — grows outside your uterus.” It most commonly involves the ovaries, fallopian tubes and the tissue lining one’s pelvis. Consequentially, the disorder can cause painful cramping during your period — and possibly during intercourse, as well as during urination and even bowel movements.
“It’s really a lonely, lonely disease,” said Schumer, 41, who underwent a hysterectomy last year to help treat the condition. She also underwent an appendectomy, a removal of the appendix after doctors found a tumor in her appendix caused by endometriosis.
Those procedures followed a long period of frustration for Schumer, who said she’d been telling people “for months” that she was in pain. Often, those complaints were brushed aside. “It was just this pain you can’t see. And, you know, there is the inclination to always think a woman is just being dramatic,” Schumer said. “You tell someone you get really bad cramps and they’re like “Oh, well, being a woman…’ And you’re like, ‘No, it’s irregular.'”
Since having the surgeries, Schumer says she feels like “a new person” now that her pain is gone. “It just felt like someone lifted this veil that had been over me. And I just felt like a different person, like, a new mom,” she said, noting that the scars from the surgeries are well worth it. “If the trade off is that you will have a little scar on your belly button and one right next to it… I think scars are cool.”
Schumer has used her experiences to shed light on the issue in the past. Last year, she took to Instagram to reassure other women experiencing irregular aches and pains during their menstrual cycles to listen to their bodies — and to advocate for themselves, even when they feel little support around them.
“My pain is real. Your pain is real. We have to advocate for ourselves,” she said in a Sept. 2021 Instagram post. “We have to speak up. And you know what? I’m worried this video is annoying, but I don’t care, because I hope that it helps one woman go and find out why she’s in so much pain.”
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