Porsha Williams is opening up about a health emergency she’s kept private until now. The Real Housewives of Atlanta star revealed on CBS Mornings and in a personal essay for Glamour, both published September 18, 2026, that she underwent an emergency partial hysterectomy after doctors discovered 21 uterine fibroids — including one she says had grown to the size of a cantaloupe.
Here’s what Williams shared about her diagnosis, the surgery, and why she’s decided to speak publicly about an experience she says carries real stigma for women.
What Porsha Williams Revealed
Williams told CBS Mornings co-anchor Gayle King that the situation moved quickly. She recalled sitting for a medical scan and seeing something alarming on the screen — dark areas and circular shapes that immediately worried her, given a history she’d hoped was behind her.
That history involved fibroids Williams had dealt with since her late twenties. Years earlier, she’d undergone a procedure called uterine fibroid embolization, a treatment designed to shrink fibroids without removing the uterus itself. At the time, she believed the fibroids were gone for good.
This year, they’d returned — and in far greater number than before.
The Diagnosis: 21 Fibroids
According to Williams, a referral to a fertility specialist led to the discovery. During an exam, the specialist reportedly reacted with shock at what she found, immediately sending Williams for an MRI. The results showed 21 uterine fibroids, with the largest comparable in size to a cantaloupe.
In her Glamour essay, Williams added further detail, writing that doctors also found endometriosis and an additional diagnosis involving her uterine lining. Given the combined severity of these findings, her doctor recommended an emergency partial hysterectomy — a procedure that would remove her uterus while preserving her ovaries.
Williams underwent the surgery in May 2026, roughly two weeks after her MRI.
What “Partial Hysterectomy” Actually Means
For readers unfamiliar with the terminology, a hysterectomy is the surgical removal of the uterus. What’s commonly called a “partial” hysterectomy in everyday language typically refers to removing the uterus while leaving the ovaries in place — which is what Williams described in her own account, writing that she’d “keep my ovaries and lose only the uterus.”
Medically, this distinction matters because the ovaries continue producing hormones after the surgery, which is different from procedures that also remove the ovaries. Fibroids themselves are non-cancerous growths that develop in or around the uterus, and while many people have small fibroids without symptoms, larger or more numerous fibroids — as in Williams’ case — can cause significant pain, bleeding, and other complications that sometimes require surgical intervention.
The Emotional Weight of the Decision
Williams was candid about how difficult the outcome was to process, both physically and emotionally. She’s the mother of a 7-year-old daughter, Pilar Jhena, and had been giving serious thought to expanding her family again after coming through a divorce with what she described as a strong support system around her.
Interestingly, Williams noted that when she was pregnant with Pilar in 2019, the fibroid she had at the time actually degenerated on its own — a detail she’d clearly hoped might happen again. Instead, this year’s diagnosis ended the possibility of her carrying another pregnancy herself, and she wrote that she couldn’t even have eggs retrieved for a potential surrogate.
She described waking up after surgery feeling like a part of her was gone, and spoke directly about the stigma surrounding hysterectomies — the sense, as she put it, of somehow feeling like less of a woman without a uterus.
Why Williams Decided to Share Her Story
Williams has been open about aspects of her life for more than a decade through reality television, from fertility struggles to her divorce. This particular chapter, though, she’d kept private until now — and her reason for finally speaking about it centers on advocacy.
Her message to other women was direct: stop self-diagnosing, and learn to push for answers. She specifically noted that hearing someone else’s story about fibroids might have prompted her to ask her own doctor about them sooner, since she said she’d barely heard of the condition before her own diagnosis.
She also said the surgery ultimately improved her quality of life, and credited her daughter with helping keep her grounded and grateful throughout her recovery.
Understanding Uterine Fibroids
Since Williams herself is encouraging greater awareness, it’s worth covering some general, publicly available medical context on the condition — separate from her personal diagnosis and treatment specifics.
According to general gynecological health information:
- Uterine fibroids are non-cancerous growths that develop in or on the uterus, and are extremely common, particularly in women in their 30s and 40s.
- Many fibroids cause no symptoms at all and are discovered incidentally during unrelated exams.
- When symptomatic, fibroids can cause heavy or prolonged menstrual bleeding, pelvic pain or pressure, frequent urination, and complications with pregnancy.
- Treatment options vary widely depending on size, number, and symptoms, ranging from monitoring and medication to minimally invasive procedures like embolization, up to surgical removal of the fibroids or the uterus itself in more severe cases.
- Fibroids can sometimes recur after treatment, particularly after procedures that don’t remove the uterus entirely — which appears consistent with Williams’ own account of her fibroids returning after embolization.
This general information reflects broader medical understanding of the condition and is not a description of Williams’ specific case beyond what she has publicly shared herself.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Why did Porsha Williams have an emergency partial hysterectomy? Doctors discovered 21 uterine fibroids, including one the size of a cantaloupe, along with endometriosis and another uterine lining diagnosis, leading her doctor to recommend the emergency procedure.
2. When did Porsha Williams have the surgery? She underwent the surgery in May 2026, about two weeks after her MRI revealed the extent of her fibroids.
3. Did Porsha Williams lose her ovaries in the surgery? No. She specifically described the procedure as removing only her uterus while preserving her ovaries.
4. Had Porsha Williams dealt with fibroids before? Yes, she said she’d had fibroids since her late twenties and had previously undergone uterine fibroid embolization, a procedure to shrink fibroids without removing the uterus.
5. Can Porsha Williams have more biological children now? No. She said the hysterectomy ended the possibility of carrying another pregnancy herself, and she was also unable to have eggs retrieved for a potential surrogate.
6. Why did Porsha Williams decide to share her story publicly? She said she wants to encourage other women to advocate for their own health and stop self-diagnosing, hoping her story prompts others to ask their doctors about symptoms they might otherwise ignore.
7. What are uterine fibroids? They are non-cancerous growths in or around the uterus, common among women in their 30s and 40s, which can range from causing no symptoms to significant pain and bleeding depending on their size and number.
Final Thoughts
Porsha Williams’ decision to share her emergency partial hysterectomy story adds a candid, public voice to a health topic that carries real stigma and is often under-discussed. Her account — from an initially misread symptom to a sudden, life-altering diagnosis — reflects an experience many women may recognize, and her call for greater self-advocacy is a meaningful takeaway regardless of the specifics of her own case.
If her story resonates with symptoms you’ve been experiencing or dismissing, it may be worth bringing them up with your own doctor rather than assuming they’re nothing to be concerned about.
This article is based on Porsha Williams’ own public statements in interviews and a published essay, along with general publicly available medical information. It is not a diagnosis of her condition and is not medical advice.