Florence Pugh isn’t ready to be a mother just yet — but she has already taken the steps so she could expand her family down the line.
During the Tuesday, November 19, episode of the “She MD” podcast, Pugh, 28, revealed how being diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and endometriosis inspired her to freeze her eggs.
“[My doctor] asked if I’d ever had an egg count done. And I was like, ‘No what do you mean? I’m so young. Why do I need an egg count?’” Pugh recalled. “It was just so bizarre because my family are baby making machines. When mom had babies into her 40s, my gran had babies throughout. I just never assumed that I was going to be in any way different and that there was going to be an issue with it.”
Pugh didn’t realize she had to worry about potential infertility.
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“Then of course, I learned completely different information, [at] age 27, that I need to get my eggs out and do it quickly, which was just a bit of a mind-boggling realization,” she noted. “One that I’m really lucky and glad that I found out when I did because I’ve been wanting kids since I was a child.”
PCOS is a hormonal disorder that causes symptoms such as irregular periods, excess hair growth, acne, weight gain and infertility. Meanwhile, endometriosis is a disease in which tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus and can cause severe pain in the pelvis.
“I’d heard of it. I didn’t think that it was something that is common. I really just thought that it was something that you’d feel and that you’d know you had and that it wasn’t really a worry,” Pugh shared on Tuesday. “Then of course, you find out you do and you realize you have to change your lifestyle. And you have to figure out when you can be proactive and think ahead into the future, which I think for lots of young women, that’s not really necessarily what you’re thinking of doing when you’re in your 20s or even younger.”
Pugh, who previously dated Zach Braff, was grateful to be able to use her experience to encourage others to look into their health.
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“I’ve been able to tell my friends about what I’m going through,” she added. “And since then, I think two or three of my friends have gone to go and get checked because of my findings, and they’ve also found that they have the same thing. So already just by me learning the tiniest bit of information, it’s led for other women to go and check to see if they also have the same.”
Earlier this year, Pugh reflected on her plans to have children in the future. She specifically cited her new movie We Live in Time as a project that forced her to reevaluate her plans for the future.
“I was at the right age for this movie to land,” she told British Vogue in September. “I was going through a lot of weird stuff with relationships last year and I think part of the story is to not be passive, is not to let things wash over you. I want to go and find love and I want to have babies.”
She continued: “I’ve always been thinking about starting a family. I’ve wanted to have kids since I was a child myself. I love the idea of a big family. I come from a big family. I love kids. It’s just figuring out when.”
