Brooke Shields’ Doctor Once ‘Refused’ To Give Her an X-Ray: 'They Thought I Was Just Being Hysterical'
It’s not always easy to advocate for yourself in the doctor’s office. If you’re someone who dreads asking your doctor a question or has swallowed your concerns once or twice, just know you’re far from alone — Brooke Shields has been there too.
“I asked for an X-ray in a hospital once, and it just was refused to me,” Shields told SheKnows ahead of her appearance at Flow Space presents An Evening with Brooke Shields. Describing the interaction, Shields recalled asking for the X-ray — “I would like one please” — and the healthcare provider saying no. “They said, ‘Well, we gave you one.’ I said, ‘Well, give me another one.'”
Turns out, Shields’ concerns were valid. “My bone had popped completely off a metal device, and they thought I was just being hysterical,” she recalled, then joked, “I said, ‘if you want me to be hysterical, I’m an actress, I can totally deliver!'”
Shields’ frustration stems from knowing that “women’s pain is judged differently,” she explains. “Especially women of color, they’re not taken as seriously.” She also pointed out the obsession with “fixing” women, something Shields experienced when she was given an additional procedure during a labial reduction. As Shields described in her new memoir, Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old: Thoughts on Aging as a Woman, per an excerpt shared with Flow Space, she came out of surgery to the male surgeon telling her about the additional, unauthorized surgery: “I tightened you up a little bit! Gave you a little rejuvenation!”
The traumatic experience left Shields in shock. Years later, she decided to share it in her book — knowing the salacious headlines that would come as a result — because of the dire need to confront stigma around women’s health and the shame and fear that comes with speaking up for yourself in healthcare settings. “When I really looked at the story and the importance of advocating for yourself medically—and how we’re not taught to do that as women—it was clear it needed to be in the book,” Shields told Flow Space. “We’re not taught to ask too many questions, and I think that needs to change.”
These days, Shields isn’t afraid to speak up in the doctor’s office. “I feel more proactive in my healthcare now,” she tells SheKnows. “I feel not embarrassed that I don’t know something, or I don’t feel difficult if I have more than one question.”
She said some of that comes from feeling empowered by different doctors, “who have encouraged me to ask questions and [who] say, ‘Is there anything else that you need to know about this?'” Shields is aware of how difficult it can be to have those conversations, and not just because you have to work up the courage to start them. “Not everybody can spend an hour with their health care provider and get into the weeds with it all,” she explains, “but it’s [the doctor’s] responsibility to educate us more so that we can be proactive in the future.”
For Shields, her experience getting a cone biopsy when she was younger — a procedure to remove per-cancerous tissue from the cervix — had long-lasting effects she wasn’t made aware of going in. Per People, the biopsy left scar tissue that would make it harder for her to have children.
“I was happy to be cancer free,” Shields reflects now. “But had I known that it would have been so difficult for me to conceive, I would have taken steps earlier.”
And when it comes to the idea of “fixing” women’s bodies, especially with procedures they didn’t ask for, Shields has something to say about that too. “I didn’t think I was broken,” she says, “so I don’t really think I need fixing.”
Before you go, read up on other celebrities who’ve spoken out about their health journeys: