FKA Twigs is back on her feet after a health scare that the singer said shook her confidence about ever performing again. The typically private singer (born Tahliah Debrett Barnett) opened up to fans in an intimate post on Wednesday (May 9), in which she revealed that she’s been debating whether to share news about her recovery from laparoscopic surgery she underwent in December to remove six fibroid tumors from her uterus.
“The tumours were pretty huge, the size of 2 cooking apples, 3 kiwis and a couple of [strawberries]” she wrote, inserting the appropriate emoji. “A fruit bowl of pain everyday. the nurse said that the weight and size was like being 6 months pregnant.” The post accompanied a video of FKA Twigs, 30, lithely dancing on a stripper pole, moving in a way the singer feared she’d never be able to again.
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“I tried to be brave but it was excruciating at times and to be honest I started to doubt if my body would ever feel the same again,” she wrote. “I had surgery in December and I was so scared, despite lots of love from friends and family I felt really alone and my confidence as a woman was knocked.” According to the Mayo Clinic, uterine fibroids are noncancerous benign tumors that typically strike women between 30-40 and can range in size from seedlings that are undetectable to the human eye to “bulky masses that can distort and enlarge the uterus.” The risk factors are listed as heredity, environmental (early onset of menstruation, use of birth control, obesity, vitamin D deficiency) and race — black women are more likely to develop fibroids, especially at younger ages and they tend to be larger and more numerous.
The singer/dancer also said that she worked with a choreographer, and she felt like her old strong self again for the first time in a long time. She called the sensation “magical” and thanking her “precious body” for healing and “reminding me to be kind ot myself, you are a wonderful thing, now go create and be other once again.” Twigs said she realizes that many women go through similar health issues and after her experience she called them “amazing warriors,” assuring them that they are not alone and can get through it.
FKA Twigs has been mostly under the radar this year, but she appeared in a short film directed by Spike Jonze to promote the Apple HomePod in March scored to Anderson .Paak’s “Til It’s Over.”
Check out the video and message below.