Christen Harper Opens Up About PCOS Journey: ‘There’s So Much Power in Knowing What’s Going on Inside Your Body’

The three-time SI Swimsuit model shared in a recent TikTok that she has a small pituitary tumor.

Christen Harper was photographed by Amanda Pratt in Dominica.Amanda Pratt/Sports Illustrated

Christen Harper is getting vulnerable and encouraging all women to take control of their health. The three-time SI Swimsuit model, who was photographed by Amanda Pratt in Dominica for this year’s issue, shared a TikTok on June 6 and opened up about her PCOS journey.

Harper spoke about her non-cancerous pituitary tumor for the first time while she got ready for a doctor’s appointment.

“A few months ago, I found out I have a small tumor on my pituitary gland, which is essentially in your brain. It’s right behind your eyes and near your optic nerve,” she stated. “Because it wasn’t huge or impeding my vision, I was given the option to kind of wait and see how it goes—if it gets bigger or if it shrinks on its own with some holistic things. So that’s kind of the process I’m in right now. And I’m actually going to do blood tests today so I can see if it shrunk on [its] own.”

The 2022 co-Rookie of the Year further explained how she discovered the minor tumor. She went off of birth control about a year ago and started to develop acne and mood swings, symptoms that weren’t normal for her. She felt like something “was off” and decided to visit fertility clinic Kindbody to get everything checked out by a professional.

“If you are a young girl and you’re in your late 20s, I would really recommend going to any type of place that can check on your fertility,” the 30-year-old encouraged. “I feel like there’s so much power in just knowing what’s going on inside your body and I would have never found out this stuff was happening unless I just took my health into my own hands.”

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A post shared by Christen Harper (@christenharper)

Harper noted that while the clinic found a high number of follicles, it was nothing to be concerned about. She decided to also visit Allara Health, a company that specializes in PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome) testing. After getting her blood drawn, the Women of the League star was told she had a high amount of prolactin, a hormone made by the pituitary gland that controls a pregnant person’s milk supply. 

“It could potentially affect your fertility if your prolactin is too high. Mine was pretty high, it wasn’t like insane, but it was higher than normal,” she continued. “So they told me to do some further testing. So the next step was to get an MRI of my brain and turns out I do have a pituitary tumor, which is actually called a prolactinoma.”

Tons of women chimed in to the comments to appreciate Harper’s openness and share that they were experiencing something similar. Several people also sent her well wishes and asked to remain updated.

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