7 celebrities on the realities of living with PCOS

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, or PCOS as it's more commonly known, affects about one in 10 women in the UK. Symptoms typically start to appear during a woman's late teens or early twenties and include irregular periods (or no periods at all), excess facial or body hair, difficulty getting pregnant, weight gain, oily skin, acne and enlarged ovaries – although, many women experience no symptoms at all, meaning the condition can go undiagnosed well into adulthood.

The exact cause of PCOS is unknown, but it is linked to abnormal hormone levels in the body, including high levels of insulin (resulting in more than half of all PCOS sufferers developing type 2 diabetes before the age of 40). While there's no cure for PCOS itself, the symptoms can be treated, so it's worth speaking to your GP if you think you might have the condition.

Thankfully, the conversation around PCOS has really opened up in recent years, leading to a greater awareness of the signs and symptoms to look out for. In part, that's down to more and more celebrities and influencers using their platform to highlight the condition and share their experience with it. From A-listers like Victoria Beckham to former Victoria Secret models, here's all the celebrities who've opened up about life with PCOS.

Notorious for keeping her private life on the down-low, one thing that former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham has been very open about is her experience with PCOS, which she was diagnosed with while trying to conceive her fourth child – Harper Seven.

Speaking to Now magazine at the time, the singer turned fashion mogul said: "Every time I go out, someone says to me 'Are you pregnant,' and at first I tried to dodge these questions with a vague response and a smile, but now, I have resorted to overt, brutal honesty."

She continued, "I keep that big smile and say something like, 'Actually, I’m struggling with infertility because of my PCOS, so my husband and I have been through several fertility treatments. No baby yet, but it’ll happen soon!'"

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Former S Club 8 and The Saturdays singer Frankie Bridge revealed last year that she'd been diagnosed with the condition after going to her GP with an array of symptoms.

Speaking to her 1.3 million followers on her Instagram Story, the 32-year-old said: "I've just found out actually that I’ve got polycystic ovaries."

"I had loads of blood tests done a few weeks ago because I was getting irregular periods, I was getting really bad PMT, I was getting really cyst-y spots and really bad skin. I was finding it hard to lose weight, even though I was eating healthily. Loads of reasons, really – and I found out last week that that’s why."

On the topic of finally getting some answers as to why she'd been experiencing symptoms, Frankie added: "It goes on different scales, so I’m not on top of the scale, [I’m] quite near the bottom but it just kind of really explains everything."

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Model and activist Harnaam Kaur is perhaps one of the most well-known influencers to open up about her PCOS, in part due to her facial hair, which she has grown out since the age of 16. Being baptised Sikh, Harnaam lets her hair grow out in accordance with her religious beliefs – including the hair that grows on her face as a result of her PCOS.

"I was 16 years old when I decided to grow my facial hair. I made the decision after my GSCEs and let it grow out over the six-week summer holiday. So when I returned to my school in Slough for the sixth form, I was a girl with a beard," she told Stylist magazine.

"It took several years for me to reach the point where I felt able to do this, and it was bullies that had pushed me to that point," she continued.

As for why she's been so open about her PCOS with her 163k followers on Instagram, she said: "When I was growing up, I didn’t see anyone in magazines or on TV that looked like me. That can have a horrid effect on a person’s mental health."

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In an open and honest Instagram post about her struggle with PCOS-related acne, actor Keke Palmer got real about the impact of living undiagnosed with the condition.

"PCOS has been attacking me from the inside out my entire life and I had no idea," she started. "My acne has been so bad that people in my field offered to pay for me to get it fixed."

Keke continued: "I tried EVERYTHING. I did Accutane [acne medication] TWICE. People say drink water, have a better diet, but I did all that, I ate all the 'right' things, my blood tests were fine. The least harmful thing PCOS can bring is acne. To all the people struggling with this please know you’re not alone and that you are still so f*****g fine! MY ACNE AIN'T NEVER STOPPED ME."

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Last year, Glee star Lea Michele revealed how she had recently been diagnosed with PCOS, after years of battling acne and weight fluctuation. Speaking to Health, she said: "The side effects can be brutal — like weight gain and bad skin."

Lea continued, "I went to a great doctor, and the minute she looked at me, she was like, 'Oh, you have PCOS.' It explained everything."

"Through diet, I have been able to manage [my symptoms]," she added. "But I am very fortunate. There are way more extreme versions of PCOS that women have a lot of difficulty with — mine is not as intense. Which is why I haven’t really talked about it, because there are women who have it so much more intense."

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In an emotional, yet inspirational, message to her 7 million Instagram followers, Victoria's Secret model Romee Strijd revealed how PCOS had affected the regularity of her period, causing her to worry about whether she could get pregnant.

"Two years ago I got diagnosed with PCOS after not getting my period for seven years. I was devastated because being a mom and starting a family is my biggest dream," she said. "I was so scared that I would never be able to because I got told it was harder to get babies in a natural way."

But, after making a few changes to her lifestyle including an exercise and diet plan, Romee was able to get her period back on track and manage some of her other symptoms. "I got my period back last November AND WE’RE SOON A FAMILY OF THREE," she excitedly told her fans.

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After welcoming her first child, former Pretty Little Liar star Sasha Pieterse opened up about her experience with PCOS.

Speaking to People, the actor said: "Just the fact that we were able to get pregnant was such a blessing because with PCOS that made me nervous."

She continued, "A lot of women have infertility issues and so we were expecting more difficulty, so it's been an absolute blessing that we were able to just get pregnant by ourselves."

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