Amy Schumer hits back at criticism over ‘puffy face’ after revealing Cushing syndrome diagnosis
Amy Schumer has hit back at criticism over her “puffy face” months after revealing she was diagnosed with Cushing syndrome.
The 42-year-old actor reflected on the online scrutiny she’s faced over her appearance during an interview with Variety, published on 30 April. According to Schumer, she hasn’t let the comments get to her.
“The people who like me are not going to care if my face is puffy. Everyone has moments of self-doubt. I rose up and was like, ‘F*** it, let’s go,’” she explained.
She specified that she’s now at a positive point in her career, where she’s receiving multiple offers for different opportunities. However, she still acknowledged her concerns about working in Hollywood.
“This is a nice moment. I’m grateful. But the nature of this industry, feeling like you’re in a good place goes away fast,” Schumer explained.
In February, the Trainwreck star revealed that she had Cushing syndrome, which “happens when the body has too much of the hormone cortisol for a long time,” with treatments ranging from medications to radiation therapy, according to the Mayo Clinic. Along with weight gain in the face, symptoms can include a lump between the shoulder, or pink or purple stretch marks on the stomach, hips, thighs, breasts and underarms.
In February, the comedian shared her diagnosis in Jessica Yellin’s News Not Noise newsletter, specifying that the criticism about her face encouraged her to see a doctor. Schumer also told Yellin that when she discovered her health condition, she was in the midst of advertising season two of her show, Life & Beth.
“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,” she said. “So finding out I have the kind of Cushing that will just work itself out and I’m healthy was the greatest news imaginable. It has been a crazy couple weeks for me and my family.”
“I also had to be on camera having the internet chime in. But thank God for that,” she continued. “Because that’s how I realised something was wrong. Just like when I realised I had named my son something that didn’t sound so good. The internet is undefeated, as they say.”
Schumer’s remark about her son comes nearly four years after she legally changed his name, since the name had an unfortunate homonym. She and her husband Chris Fisher changed their son’s name from “Gene Attel Fischer” to “Gene David Fischer”, after discovering through people on social media that they “by accident, named [their] son ‘genital’”.
In February, Schumer took to Instagram to respond to questions about the “puffiness” of her face during an appearance onThe Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Alongside a poster promoting the new season of her comedy series, Life and Beth, Schumer began her message by encouraging fans to watch earlier runs of the show. “Thank you so much for everyone’s input about my face!” she wrote.
“I’ve enjoyed feedback and deliberation about my appearance as all women do for almost 20 years. And you’re right, it is puffier than normal right now,” she added.
Schumer then reminded her followers that she lives with endometriosis, before noting that while there are “some medical and hormonal things going on in [her] world right now”, she was “okay”.
As noted by the Mayo Clinic, endometriosis is an often “painful condition in which tissue that is similar to the inner lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus”. It can take several years for people with uteruses to get diagnosed with the condition, and research into the disorder is limited. Schumer underwent a hysterectomy and an appendectomy to treat the disease in September 2021.
After expressing in Yellin’s newsletter that “women’s bodies have barely been studied medically compared to men”, The Humans star described another reason why she was sharing the statement. “I also believe a woman doesn’t need any excuse for her physical appearance and owes no explanation,” she continued. “But I wanted to take the opportunity to advocate for self-love and acceptance of the skin you’re in.”
