Venus Williams ‘outraged’ over secret health battle at height of tennis career

Venus Williams, 45, amid rumors of a return to tennis, recently revealed to NBC News correspondent Zinhle Essamuah on ‘Today’ that she received faulty advice from doctors throughout her career about her fibroids.

“I’m sharing now because I was outraged that I didn’t know this was possible,” Williams, now a year removed from tennis, admitted, revealing her diagnosis publicly for the first time. “I didn’t know what was wrong with me,’ she insisted. ‘No one should have to go through this.”

July is Fibroid Awareness Month. What are fibroids? Fibroids impact more than 40% of people with a uterus, and black women are disproportionately impacted. They are noncancerous growths causing abnormal discomfort along the uterus.

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“My symptoms were extreme pain,” Williams said. “You know, getting so much in pain that maybe you throw up. Or you can’t get off the ground … I missed practices because of that. Just, you know, hugging the toilet”

Williams didn’t receive her official diagnosis until 2016 when she visited Dr. Tara Shirazian from NYU’s Langone Health Center for Fibroid Care.