Hollywood star Florence Pugh has revealed that an unexpected diagnosis led her to freeze her eggs at the age of 27.
Now 28, the British-born actress has opened up about suffering from polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and endometriosis; which can affect women's fertility.
Pugh, star of "Oppenheimer," "Dune: Part Two" and "Little Women," said: "I had a concern last summer and I just wanted to go and check things out and then we ended up finding information that I probably wouldn't have. "I knew them until I started planning a baby."
"It was so weird because my family is a baby-making machine," she said. “My mom had babies in her forties, my grandmother…she had a lot of babies too. I just never assumed that I would be any different and that there would be a problem, or that I needed to think about this part before I needed to think about it.”
Endometriosis is a common and often painful condition that occurs when tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus and is estimated to affect more than 11% of women aged 15 to 44.
According to the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, telltale signs of PCOS can include "menstrual cycle changes, skin changes such as facial and body hair growth and acne, abnormal ovarian growths, and infertility."
The chronic condition affects about 8% to 13% of women and girls of reproductive age worldwide, according to the World Health Organization, but up to 70% may experience PCOS while not being diagnosed.
Pugh said she hoped that speaking out about her experiences would help raise awareness.
"I feel very disappointed by the lack of conversation," she said. "I feel so down for all the young women who will find this out too late and find out when they start having children in their thirties."
"And I feel like that's such a simple conversation that we have to have when we start our periods, or when we start having sex. In fact, it really shouldn't take that long for someone to learn about this diagnosis that they have no idea what it is.”
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