In her latest book, Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old, actress Brooke Shields opens up about some of the most challenging and vulnerable moments in her life. She shares a deeply personal story about her struggle to conceive, which was complicated by a surgery she underwent that reduced the size of her cervix.
Shields explains that she had an abnormal pap smear, which led to the need for a cone biopsy, a procedure where doctors remove abnormal tissue from the cervix. Unfortunately, after discovering potentially cancerous cells, the doctors had to remove a large portion of her cervix, causing her severe pain and leaving her with complications that made conception difficult.
Even with IVF treatment, she faced more heartbreak. “Amazingly, that first IVF round was successful, and I became pregnant — only to miscarry three months later,” she writes. She describes the miscarriage as one of the worst experiences of her life, saying it was “so violent and excruciatingly painful” that it was “the 12 worst straight hours” she could remember.
Shields, who later welcomed two daughters, Rowan in 2003 and Grier in 2006, admits that if she had known the risks associated with her surgery, she would have made a different decision. Her story reflects the emotional and physical toll of these experiences and how they shaped her path to motherhood.