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Amy Schumer says criticism of her rounder face led to diagnosis of Cushing syndrome
Comedian and actress Amy Schumer received comments after several recent TV appearances from viewers who noticed her rounder-looking face. While some of the comments about her physical appearance seemed mean-spirited or unwarranted, Schumer said “thank God for that,” because she realized something was wrong and got a diagnosis: Cushing syndrome.
After appearing on shows like “Watch What Happens Live” and “The Tonight Show” to promote her show “Life and Beth,” Schumer took to Instagram to address the comments. “Binge both full seasons of @lifeandbethhulu and thank you so much for everyone’s input about my face! I’ve enjoyed feedback and deliberation about my appearance as all women do for almost 20 years,” she wrote, a hint of sarcasm in her post.
She said her face is puffier than normal, saying she has endometriosis and is going through “medical and hormonal things.”
But in a recent interview with “News Not Noise” blogger Jessica Yellin, Schumer said after reading the comments she was diagnosed with Cushing syndrome, which according to the Mayo Clinic occurs when the body has too much of the hormone cortisol over a long period of time.
What is Cushing syndrome?
Symptoms of the condition, which can be caused from taking medications called glucocorticoids or corticosteroids, can include a rounded face, pink or purple stretch marks on the skin and a fatty hump between the shoulders, according to Mayo Clinic, and could also lead to high blood pressure, bone loss and even type 2 diabetes.
Schumer said her condition was caused by getting steroid injections in high doses. She says she now feels “reborn” after her diagnosis, and while some forms of Cushing can be fatal, she has a type that “will just work itself out.”
She said that while she was making public appearances and giving interviews to promote the show, she was getting tests like MRIs and blood draws, which made her worry she may not be around to see her son grow up.
“So finding out I have the kind of Cushing that will just work itself out and I’m healthy was the greatest news imaginable,” she said. “It has been a crazy couple weeks for me and my family.”
“Aside from fears about my health, I also had to be on camera having the internet chime in. But thank God for that,” she said. “Because that’s how I realized something was wrong.”
Lowering the body’s cortisol levels can help improve Cushing symptoms, and the sooner treatment starts, the better, Mayo Clinic says. Cortisol is a hormone produced by the adrenal glands that helps regulate your body’s response to stress, according to Cleveland Clinic.
Corticosteroids can be used to treat several issues including rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, asthma and allergies, according to the Mayo Clinic. They can be taken by mouth, inhaled or injected, and all of these forms can come with side effects.
Amy Schumer’s endometriosis diagnosis
Schumer said she has endometriosis, an often painful condition in which tissue that is similar to the inside the uterus grows outside of it.
When asked by Yellin why she is sharing her health information, Schumer said: “The shaming and criticism of our ever-changing bodies is something I have dealt with and witnessed for a long time. I want so much for women to love themselves and be relentless when fighting for their own health in a system that usually doesn’t believe them.”
“I want women to know it’s abnormal to have extremely painful periods and to find someone with experience in diagnosing and operating for endometriosis,” she said, adding that she received surgery for the condition that changed her life. “I want women to value feeling strong, healthy and comfortable in their own skin. I am extremely privileged to have the resources I have for my health and I know it’s not that way for most people. I am grateful and want to use my voice to continue to fight for women.”
The following is a transcript of an interview with Sen. Mark Kelly, Democrat of Arizona, on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that aired on Oct. 6, 2024.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Joining us now is Arizona’s Democratic Senator, Mark Kelly. He’s in Detroit this morning on the campaign trail for the Harris campaign. Good morning to you, Senator.
SEN. MARK KELLY: Good morning, Margaret.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to talk to you about Arizona, but let’s start in Michigan, which is where you are right now. And it is going to be such a key state to a potential Harris or Trump victory. Vice President Harris is facing challenges among black men, working class people, as well as the Muslim and Arab populations skeptical of the White House support for Israel’s wars. What are you hearing on the ground there from voters?
SEN. KELLY: Well, my wife, Gabby Giffords, and I have been out here for a couple days. We’ve been campaigning across the country, Michigan, I’ve been in North Carolina, Georgia as well. I’ll be back to Arizona here soon. The vice president was out here speaking to Muslim organizations and the Arab community about what is at stake in this election and addressing the concerns that they have. What we’re hearing, issues about the economy, about gun violence, about, you know, supporting American families and the difference between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. You know, Kamala Harris, who has a vision for the future of this country, Donald Trump, who just wants to drag us backwards.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Today in Dearborn, Michigan, there’s a funeral service for an American man who was killed in Lebanon by an Israeli airstrike. It just underscores how that community you’re talking about out in Michigan feel some of what’s happening in a personal way to their community. Given how close this race is, do you think this war and the expectation it could escalate could cost Democrats both a seat in the Senate and potentially the presidency?
SEN. KELLY: Margaret, nobody wants to see escalation and it’s tragic when any innocent person, whether it’s an American or Palestinian, lose their life in a conflict. Tomorrow’s one year since October 7th, when Israel was violently attacked. Israel has a right to defend itself, not only from Hamas, but from Hezbollah and from the Iranians. But, you know, I and my wife, you know, we feel for the community here who’s been affected by this. And that’s why the vice president was out here earlier, a few days ago, meeting with that community.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But it’s a live issue.
SEN. KELLY: Yeah, sure. I mean, there is an ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Israel is, you know, fighting a war now on, I think it’s fair to say, two fronts and then being attacked by the Iranians as well. And, they- they need to defend themselves, and we need to support our Israeli ally. At the same time, when women and children lose their life, innocent people in a conflict, it is- it is tragic.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You do sit on the Senate Intelligence Committee and so I know you know how intense the efforts are by foreign actors to try to manipulate voters going into November. Just this Friday, Matthew Olsen, the lead on election threats at the Department of Justice, told CBS the Russians are, quote, highlighting immigration as a wedge issue. That is such a key issue in Arizona. Are you seeing targeted information operations really focusing in on Arizonans right now?
SEN. KELLY: Not only in Arizona, in other battleground states. It’s the Russians, the Chinese, the Iranians, and it’s significant. And we need to do a better job getting the message out to the American people that there is a huge amount of misinformation. If you’re looking at stuff on Twitter, on TikTok, on Facebook, on Instagram, and it’s political in nature, and you may- might think that that person responding to that political article or who made that meme up is an American. It could be- it could look like a U.S. service member. There is a very reasonable chance I would put it in the 20 to 30% range, that the content you are seeing, the comments you are seeing, are coming from one of those three countries: Russia, Iran, China. We had a hearing recently, with the FBI director, the DNI, and the head of the National Security Agency. And we talked about this. And we talked about getting the word out. And it’s up to us, so thank you for asking me the question, because it’s up to us, the people who serve in Congress and the White House to get the information out there, that there is a tremendous amount of misinformation in this election, and it’s not going to stop on November 5th.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Understood. And we will do our best to help parse that for viewers. But on the topic of the border, President Biden did announce just this past week new regulations to keep in place that partial asylum ban that he rolled out back in June. That’s what’s credited with helping to bring down some of the border crossing numbers in recent weeks. It was supposed to be a temporary policy, dependent on how many people were crossing at a time. Do you think this is the right long term policy, or is this just a gimmick to bring down numbers ahead of the election?
SEN. KELLY: Well, the right long term policy is to do this through legislation. And we were a day or two away from doing that, passing strong border security legislation supported by the vice president, negotiated by the vice president, and the president and his Department of Homeland Security, with Democrats and Republicans–
MARGARET BRENNAN: But this is not legislation.
SEN. KELLY: –This is bipartisan. This isn’t. But the legislation was killed by Donald Trump. We were really close to getting it passed. That’s the correct way to do this. When you can’t do that, Margaret, when a former president interrupts the legislative process the way he did, which is the most hypocritical thing I’ve ever seen in my three and a half years in the Senate. After that happened, the only other option is executive actions. And this has gone from what was chaos and a crisis at our southern border to somewhat manageable. And if you’re the border- Border Patrol, you know, this is this- you need this. I mean, otherwise it is unsafe for Border Patrol agents, for CBP officers, for migrants, for communities in southern Arizona. So it’s unfortunate that this was the- these were the steps that had to be taken.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay.
SEN. KELLY: But that’s because the former president didn’t allow us to do this through legislation.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Senator, we have to leave it right there. Face the Nation will be right back.
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Sen. Mark Kelly says Americans need to know about “huge amount of misinformation” on election
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