“Pretty Little Liars” quickly became one of the most talked about shows on television when it premiered in 2010.
Sasha Pieterse was only 13 when she started playing the presumably murdered, 15-year-old “queen-bee” Alison DiLaurentis. A few years later, the actress would start to notice changes in her health, particularly her metabolism.
“The changes that were happening to me were documented on camera… At 17, I gained 70 pounds in the year… for no reason… There was no explanation for it,” Pieterse revealed on the podcast “The Squeeze” with actor Taylor Lautner and his wife, also named Taylor.
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“I went to over 15 gynecologists… One gynecologist told me to my face that I was lying,” the actress admitted. “That I must be eating terribly, and I must be doing everything wrong because ‘look at you,’ was essentially what he said.”
“I just wanted somebody to test my blood… It was the most frustrating experience… and disheartening because no matter what I did, no matter how well I behaved, no matter how great I treated my body, things were actually getting worse rather than better. It was very, very confusing,” she explained.
Pieterse said she was eventually referred to an endocrinologist, who was able to diagnosis her with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) practically right away.
PCOS is defined by the Mayo Clinic as being a “problem with hormones that happens during the reproductive years. If you have PCOS, you may not have periods very often. Or you may have periods that last many days. You may also have too much of a hormone called androgen in your body.”
Another common side effect is weight gain.
Pieterse said it was difficult growing up on television while experiencing such profound changes to her body.
“I had such a good experience, but at the same time it was very intense for those 7 years… It’s really intense to learn and grow and understand yourself when everyone else is hyper-analyzing it,” she shared.
Pieterse, 27, says that having her son Hendrix actually regulated her hormones, so much so that her PCOS is now dormant. She explained that childbirth can, albeit rarely, help women with the problem.