Lili Reinhart has revealed she was diagnosed with endometriosis after years of debilitating symptoms that she says doctors repeatedly dismissed. The Riverdale actor, 29, shared on Instagram that she received the diagnosis last week following laparoscopic surgery, describing a long search for answers and calling for women’s pain to be taken seriously.
Reinhart wrote that she spent the past year shuttling between gynecologists, urologists and emergency rooms, first receiving a diagnosis of interstitial cystitis, an inflammatory bladder condition. She said several clinicians failed to consider endometriosis, even as her pelvic pain, gut issues and fatigue worsened. One gynecologist, she recalled, told her she “probably didn’t have endo” and should go on the pill, advice she rejected after consulting pelvic floor therapists and an endometriosis specialist who recommended surgery.
The actor described asking for an MRI herself and later undergoing laparoscopic surgery that confirmed endometriosis and adenomyosis. She called the experience “validating” after months of feeling unheard and shared hospital photos to underline the toll of the process. “Believing women’s pain shouldn’t be revolutionary,” she wrote, adding that she felt “glad I trusted my body and listened to my gut” and that she intends to keep urging others to do the same.
Reinhart also pointed to how common the condition is and how slowly diagnoses arrive. She cited data that it often takes four to 11 years for patients to receive confirmation of endometriosis, and that roughly one in 10 people with uteruses live with it. Health agencies estimate that about 190 million women of reproductive age worldwide are affected, many experiencing severe menstrual pain, chronic pelvic pain, heavy bleeding and fertility problems.
Researchers describe endometriosis as a “missed disease,” pointing to long diagnostic delays, underfunded research and deep gaps in education about menstrual health. Studies have linked the condition to higher rates of depression and anxiety, as patients struggle with pain that employers, families and clinicians sometimes downplay. Reinhart said her decision to push back against dismissal came partly from watching her grandmother’s cancer being diagnosed late and has framed her announcement as both personal relief and an attempt to widen public understanding of a chronic illness that many still fight to have recognised.
