Not even our favorite celebrities are immune from experiencing health woes — and many of them are opening up about their battles in an effort to inform and inspire others who might be going through the same illnesses.
Selena Gomez’s health issues have been well-documented over the years. The “Look at Her Now” singer has openly talked about her mental health struggles, which even led to her entering rehab in 2018. However, in September 2017, she underwent a secret life-changing kidney surgery following complications from her long battle with lupus.
Gomez’s pal, Grownish star Francia Raisa, donated one of her kidneys to the former child star. “It was a six-hour surgery that they had to do on me, and the normal kidney process is actually two hours,” she told Today in October 2017. “Apparently, one of the arteries had flipped. I’m very thankful that there are people who know what to do in that situation.”
The Rare Beauty founder also credited Raisa for saving her life, saying: “Because she did. That’s it. I guess I got to the point where it was really kind of life or death.”
Amy Schumer, meanwhile, revealed in April 2018 had been hospitalized over a kidney infection. “Here’s what I’ve been up to this week. I was hospitalized for 5 days with a horrible kidney infection,” the Inside Amy Schumer star shared via Instagram. “I want to give a big thank you to the doctors, the badass nurses, also my husband who’s name is, I want to say, Chris? and my sisters Kimby and Mol who have been by my side the whole time.”
Schumer welcomed her son, Gene, with husband Chris Fischer the following year. Leading up to the birth, she experienced pregnancy complications due to hyperemesis gravidarum, which is a severe form of morning sickness.
Additionally, Emilia Clarke opened up about secretly undergoing brain surgery twice after suffering from life-threatening aneurysms. In an essay for The New Yorker in 2019, she revealed that the health scares happened during the earlier seasons of Game of Thrones.
“I lost all hope. I couldn’t look anyone in the eye. There was terrible anxiety, panic attacks. I was raised never to say, ‘It’s not fair’; I was taught to remember that there is always someone who is worse off than you,” she wrote at the time. “But, going through this experience for the second time, all hope receded. I felt like a shell of myself. So much so that I now have a hard time remembering those dark days in much detail. My mind has blocked them out. But I do remember being convinced that I wasn’t going to live.”
The Me Before You actress noted that she’s since made a full recovery, adding, “In the years since my second surgery, I have healed beyond my most unreasonable hopes. I am now at a hundred percent.”
Scroll down to read about stars who have experienced health scares over the years.