Porsha Williams is opening up about the emergency surgery that ended her ability to carry another child.
The "Real Housewives of Atlanta" star revealed during a Friday, Sept. 18, appearance on "CBS Mornings" that she underwent a partial hysterectomy in May after doctors discovered 21 uterine fibroids. Williams, 45, said the largest was approximately the size of a cantaloupe.
The reality star was first diagnosed with fibroids in her late 20s. She said a fibroid continued growing during a pregnancy and contributed to a miscarriage at four months. Williams later welcomed daughter Pilar Jhena in March 2019.
Uterine fibroids are muscular growths that develop in or around the uterus and are almost always noncancerous, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
Symptoms can include heavy menstrual bleeding, frequent urination, back pain and pain during sex.
'RHOA' star Porsha Williams details experience with uterine fibroids
The rediagnosis came as Williams was considering expanding her family. She told host Gayle King that she had imagined giving her 7-year-old daughter a younger sibling.
The beauty businesswoman said she accompanied a friend to an appointment about freezing her eggs and asked the fertility doctor, whom she already knew, to examine her as well.
The doctor's reaction immediately raised concerns.
"She started looking into doing the exam, and she went silent," Williams recalled. "And I looked at the screen, and all I could see was black, and then I started seeing some circular lines. And I was like, 'Not again. Not again.'"
Williams was referred to a specialist and underwent an MRI soon after, according to CBS News. Surgery was scheduled for approximately two weeks later.
"It all happened so fast," Williams said. "It really didn't hit me, hit me until I woke up in the hospital bed."
My menstrual cycle was at that point like a month and a half, you know, migraines, like crazy fatigue," Williams shared when talking about her symptoms. The reality star thought her symptoms were related to perimenopause.
In a first-person essay published Sept. 18 in Glamour, Williams said the procedure preserved her ovaries but removed her uterus. She described grieving the loss of her fertility while also recognizing that the operation improved her health.
"I didn't have a choice about the hysterectomy, but it saved my life," Williams wrote, adding that her quality of life has improved "100%" since the procedure.
Williams said she is sharing her experience to encourage women to take unexplained symptoms seriously and seek professional medical advice.
"We have to stop diagnosing ourselves," she said. "There's so many different things when it comes to a woman that you need to get checked. We need to know how to advocate for ourselves."
She also acknowledged the stigma that can surround hysterectomies, telling King that she had previously discussed her struggle with fibroids publicly but found it more difficult to speak about losing her uterus.
"If I would have seen somebody like me sitting here with you talking about fibroids, it would have clicked something for me to even ask for it," Williams said.
What is Porsha Williams' net worth?
A 2024 report republished by IMDb estimated Williams' net worth at $1.5 million. The outlet attributed her financial rebound to her return to "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" and income from several business ventures.
Is Porsha Williams dating a woman?
Williams is dating Patrice "Sway" McKinney, a beauty industry mentor and motivational speaker, according to Bravo. The pair connected through Instagram years before becoming romantically involved and went public with their relationship in 2025.
"When you're building a solid foundation, you may have some cracks that you gotta attend to, but we are literally better than ever. We recently started off fresh…I love it here in Sway land," Williams recently said about their relationship.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Porsha Williams reveals emergency partial hysterectomy after doctors find 21 fibroids
