The following article includes mentions of sexual abuse, depression, and suicide.
Indeed, it’s been a pretty tough road for the beloved and highly bankable star.
“There’s health, and wellbeing.
Sometimes, we take our bodies and health for granted, says Shields.
“It’s such an easy thing to overlook and forget,” she remarked.
“This baby was a stranger to me,” she admitted.
“I didn’t know what to do with her.
I didn’t feel at all joyful.”
“I learned I wasn’t doing anything wrong to feel that way.
That it was actually out of my control.”
Frequent use of tanning beds is also a major factor.
“I was never an avid sunscreen user,” Shields divulged in her essay.
“I come from a generation that was never educated on the seriousness of skin cancer.”
Nowadays, daily sunscreen tool is a non-negotiable for Shields regardless of whether the sun is out.
She also stopped actively tanning entirely following her close brush with skin cancer.
“I start having a grand mal seizure.
It means frothing at the mouth, totally blue, trying to swallow my tongue,” she disclosed.
“The next thing I remember, I’m being loaded into an ambulance.
I have oxygen on.”
Later, it was discovered that over-dehydration and hyponatraemia caused her seizure.
I had had too much water.
I flooded my system, and I drowned myself,” Shields explained.
As with most things in life, balance is key.
What matters most, as far as she’s concerned, is showing up for yourself.
“It’s never, ever too late to make healthy changes,” Shields said.
