Brooke Shields Revealed She Once Had a Miscarriage that Was "Violent and Excruciatingly Painful"

Brooke Shields's new memoir has only been out for one day, and it's already proving to be the model's most vulnerable project yet. Titled Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old: Thoughts on Aging as a Woman, the book includes plenty of revelations that she has, up until now, kept private—including the story of her miscarriage.

Shields's miscarriage story starts with news of an irregular pap smear, which led to a cone biopsy, "which is a procedure to remove abnormal tissue from the cervix," she explained. The doctors eventually discovered abnormal cells that had to be removed along with "a lot" of her cervix, which felt like "my entire uterus had fallen onto the bathroom floor," she said.

"The doctor also failed to mention that such an aggressive biopsy could result in so much scar tissue that it could become difficult to conceive," Shields continued. "And shortly after we got married I went to the doctor to get checked out."

Shields and her husband, Chris Henchy, eventually opted for in vitro fertilization, or IVF.

"Amazingly, that first IVF round was successful, and I became pregnant—only to miscarry three months later," she wrote. "And what ensued was probably the worst twelve straight hours of my life."

"The miscarriage was so violent and excruciatingly painful that when it came time for a second IVF attempt I actually asked my doctor, 'Do you think it hurt so much because the scar tissue was getting stretched? Is that possible??"

The answer, Shields later found out, was yes. "Had I been aware of the risks, I could have made other choices to support my fertility," she wrote. (Shields later gave birth to two daughters, Rowan and Grier.)

The miscarriage isn't the only medical trauma that Shields is sharing in her new memoir. She also revealed that a doctor conducted vaginal rejuvenation during a labia surgery without her consent. Having sex is now often a "painful" experience, she wrote.

“For me to fully enjoy sex at this point, I need my lotions and potions, the right sleepwear (maybe calling it sleepwear is contributing to the problem), my special pillow, and maybe a tequila so I can relax,” she continued in the book. “My doctor told me I should start taking testosterone—sure you might get a few more whiskers, but that’s what tweezers are for—but I haven’t gotten there yet. For now, I’m counting on the old ‘the more you have it, the more you’ll enjoy it’ approach.”

Read the original article on InStyle