‘RHOA’ Porsha Williams Opens Up About Devastating Surgery

Porsha Williams was ready to expand her family with a sibling for her daughter, Pilar. But instead, the RHOA alum ended up needing emergency surgery after a shocking, life-threatening diagnosis. She opened up about the devastating situation for the first time. Keep reading for all the details.

Porsha Williams Undergoes Emergency Surgery After Life-Threatening Illness

Porsha Williams quickly became a fan favorite when she joined The Real Housewives of Atlanta in the show’s fifth season. She briefly left in 2021 before returning for Season 16. The longtime Bravo star is also among the cast of The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip: Roaring 20th, which celebrates the franchise’s 20th anniversary. 

She welcomed her only child, Pilar, in 2019 with ex-fiancé, Dennis McKinley. Porsha Williams recently explored the possibility of giving her daughter, 7, a sibling. While accompanying a friend to a fertility appointment, the Bravo star decided to get checked out herself. What the exam found was a complete shock.

“I looked at the screen and all I could see was black, and then I started seeing some circular lines. And I was like, ‘Not again. Not again,’” Porsha Williams told Gayle King on CBS Mornings.

What Porsha Williams saw on the screen was multiple fibroids. She was diagnosed with the condition in her 20s. The RHOA alum suffered fertility issues and a miscarriage due to the condition. Luckily, she was still able to conceive her daughter.

But her current condition was so serious that she needed emergency, life-saving surgery.

RHOA Star Opens Up About Devastating Surgery

Porsha Williams was sent to another fertility doctor after the unexpected discovery. She was quickly sent to have an MRI and then the next thing she knew, she woke up in the hospital after surgery. “It all happened so fast. It really didn’t hit me, hit me until I woke up in the hospital bed,” she said about the two-week period between the shocking diagnosis and surgery.

The doctors discovered 21 fibroids, including one the size of a cantaloupe. Porsha Williams had a partial hysterectomy to remove the fibroids. In an essay for Glamour, she revealed just how serious it was. “The fibroids had grown large enough to close off more than 60 percent of my birth canal and put my bladder at risk from their sheer weight,” she wrote.

The symptoms she had before the surgery, including migraines, mood swings, and fatigue, have since resolved after the surgery. Porsha Williams said that she spoke out about the experience to encourage other women to advocate for themselves.

“We have to stop diagnosing ourselves. There’s so many different things when it comes to a woman that you need to get checked,” the RHOA star said.

Jennifer Havener grew up in a small town in Upstate New York. She earned her B.A in Writing & Literature from Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. She always knew watching reality TV shows and soap operas, particularly ‘Days of Our Lives’, would come in handy someday. When she’s not writing, she’s playing with her dogs, Lola and Ruger

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