Comedian Amy Schumer, 42, was diagnosed with a rare health disorder following comments made online by critics of her reportedly swollen face.
The actress and producer announced Friday she was diagnosed with Cushing syndrome in Jessica Yellin’s “News Not Noise” newsletter, revealing how comments about her “puffy face” on social media prompted her to seek medical care.
Amy Schumer claims that her internet trolls are just mad she’s not ‘prettier’ or ‘thinner’ pic.twitter.com/rZ3yudTywF
— Pubity (@pubity) February 25, 2024
“While I was doing press on camera for my Hulu show, I was also in MRI machines four hours at a time, having my veins shut down from the amount of blood drawn and thinking I may not be around to see my son grow up,” Schumer said.
“It has been a crazy couple [of] weeks for me and my family,” Shumer continued. “Aside from fears about my health, I also had to be on camera having the internet chime in. But thank God for that. Because that’s how I realized something was wrong.”
“So finding out I have the kind of Cushing that will just work itself out and I’m healthy was the greatest news imaginable,” she said.
Cushing syndrome is caused by too much cortisol, a stress hormone, in the body. Symptoms of the disorder include weight gain, a round face and high blood pressure, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The rare syndrome, which occurs in only 40 to 70 of every one million people, can be fatal if left untreated, according to the NIH. (RELATED: Comedian Thinks Republicans Would Win The Zombie Apocalypse)
Schumer broke her silence on the online comments which compared her to a cabbage patch doll during a Feb. 14 appearance on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.” She told the talk show’s host she had “endometriosis, an auto immune disease that every woman should read about” before revealing her diagnosis with Cushings weeks later.
Cushing syndrome affects women three times more often than men and it is usually only present in adults, according to the NIH. Treatments vary, but may include prescription medications and, in some cases, surgery and radiation if recommended by physicians, according to Mayo Clinic.
Schumer reportedly did not require such treatment.