When Victoria Monét wowed the crowd during her 2024 Coachella set, she claimed there were “two moons” backing her up onstage.
In a post to her Instagram Stories featuring a shot captured during her performance, the “On My Mama” singer got candid about the ways her body has been impacted by polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).
“Welp.. I gained a lot of weight and it went a lot of places lol face, arms, tummy and most effectively… datassss,” she captioned the photo, which showed the Grammy winner standing with her back to the crowd as the moon shone brightly above, per People.
She added, “I usually am so critical and frustrated by it because PCOS has me really messed up, but optimistically, at least now there’s two moons on the stage.”
According to one of the nation’s leading hospitals, the Mayo Clinic, PCOS “is a problem with hormones that happens during the reproductive years.” The condition can cause an excess of androgen in the body, leading to irregular periods or no periods for prolonged amounts of time. Other symptoms can include cysts developing along the outer edge of the ovaries, complications of the ovaries, severe acne, and, as Monét noted, weight gain.
While research remains sparse, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, PCOS roughly impacts 6% to 12% (or 5 million) of childbearing-aged women. It’s hard to deduce how common the condition is among Black women because it also goes underdiagnosed for many, especially Black women. However, one study published in the National Library of Medicine that looked at 174 white women and 195 Black women aged 18-45 found that 4.7% of white women and 3.4% of Black women had the condition.
The Instagram post is not the first time Monét has been candid about her reproductive health. In September, the singer-songwriter opened up to Self magazine about her difficult experience giving birth to her first child, Hazel, whom she welcomed via an unexpected C-section in February 2021 with her partner, John Gaines. She also noted how motherhood has impacted her sense of self.
“After I had Hazel, I went into a full depression. I was very hard on myself, and just judging so much and worrying about what I used to look like and what I used to have. It’s just all living in the past, which is the setup [for feeling like a failure],” she said. “[But] you have to think forward. It’s been a battle to be okay with whatever size I am at the time. So if I go to Disneyland with Hazel, I’m not going to be worrying about the churro because we’re only at Disney one day.”