July 5, 2025
Williams is opened up about her decades-long wrestle with uterine fibroids.
Tennis legend Venus Williams is not any stranger to pushing by way of ache. With seven Grand Slam titles and 4 Olympic gold medals to her identify, she has lengthy been celebrated for her resilience on the courtroom. However now, the 45-year-old athlete is talking out a couple of completely different sort of battle, one she fought quietly for many years with the assistance of Dr. Taraneh Shirazian: uterine fibroids.
In a current interview with Self, Williams revealed that she has suffered from painful intervals and different signs related to fibroids for many of her life.
Fibroids are outlined by noncancerous growths within the uterus can result in heavy bleeding and power discomfort, they usually have an effect on Black ladies at considerably larger charges.
Analysis exhibits that by age 50, as many as 80% of ladies will develop fibroids, with Black ladies 3 times extra prone to expertise them, usually at youthful ages and with extra extreme signs than their white counterparts.
“I bear in mind enjoying my first French Open after I was 16,” Williams recalled.
“Earlier than the second spherical, I used to be ready for my match and I used to be simply hugging the bathroom bowl. I used to be dropping my lunch over interval pains.”
Regardless of the severity of her signs, Williams mentioned she by no means obtained a transparent analysis till 2016, and even then, therapy choices had been restricted.
“They’d inform me we’ll simply watch it,” she mentioned. “The one factor provided to me was a hysterectomy.”
She expressed that she was compelled to depend on painkillers for aid.
“I had these drugs with me in every single place,” Williams mentioned. “I may by no means be caught anyplace with out my ache drugs. Getting caught in that sort of ache is a catastrophe.”
By 2024, after years of being dismissed and inadequately handled, Williams took issues into her personal arms.
Whereas scrolling on Instagram, she got here throughout an advert for a fibroid clinic and realized new choices had been lastly out there.
Williams finally linked with Dr. Shirazian, a board-certified gynecologist and director of the Heart for Fibroid Care at NYU Langone.
“It was wonderful for me as a result of I used to be capable of discuss to somebody who felt assured that they may deal with me,” Williams mentioned.
Dr. Shirazian takes a holistic, long-term strategy to treating fibroids—an strategy that stands in stark distinction to the “watch and wait” recommendation Williams had beforehand obtained.
Her therapy philosophy views fibroids not as a one-time difficulty however as a power situation requiring individualized, ongoing care. Dr. Shirazian examines not solely the bodily signs, but in addition how fibroids impression a affected person’s high quality of life, fertility, and psychological well being.
Throughout her analysis, Williams quickly discovered that she had an adenomyoma, a situation the place the uterine lining grows into the uterine wall.
“I used to be the primary individual to ever inform her [about the condition],” Dr. Shirazian mentioned.
“You would inform she had by no means heard of an adenomyoma earlier than. Once you hear one thing for the primary time, you want time to actually perceive and resolve what to do.”
Williams opted for a uterine-sparing surgical procedure to take away the fibroids.
“Surgical procedure fully removes illness,” Dr. Shirazian defined. “Given her historical past and signs, that was the best choice.”
Williams underwent the process in July 2024. Inside days, she was again on her ft, and after a month, she felt totally recovered.
“I went by way of lots,” Williams mentioned. “And you’d think about I’d have entry to the perfect well being care—and I did. However I nonetheless didn’t have the perfect well being care till I went to NYU.”
Now, she’s hoping her story will encourage others—particularly Black ladies—to talk up, ask questions, and advocate for themselves in a healthcare system that always fails them.
“As a affected person, it’s a must to be your individual advocate,” Dr. Shirazian mentioned. “In case you don’t know what’s improper with you within the first place, you by no means even know to deliver it up.”
Dr. Shirazian, who companions with advocacy teams like The White Gown Mission to teach Black communities and ladies about fibroids, echoed that message.
“They share info on docs and hospitals providing high quality care throughout the nation,” she mentioned. “Elevating consciousness is how we shut these gaps.”
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