Amy Schumer discussed liposuction, therapy, in vitro fertilization, and more on a March 3 episode of Chelsea Handler’s podcast Dear Chelsea. While Schumer announced in January that she’d had liposuction, this was the first time she has detailed the process. “I got liposuction. I never thought that I was going to do anything like that. Like when I would hear ‘liposuction,’ I was just like, that’s so crazy to me,” Schumer told Handler. “Cut to turning 40 after having a C-section,” she said, and she decided to go for it.
The comedian said she felt it was important to publicly acknowledge that she underwent the procedure as she doesn’t want to mislead anyone about why she looks different. “I just wanted to say that, because if anybody sees me in pictures or anything and they’re like, she looks thinner, it’s because I had a surgery,” she said in the interview.
Liposuction involves a suction technique that extracts fat from different parts of the body, potentially including the abdomen, buttocks, arms, neck, hips, and thighs, according to the Mayo Clinic. These changes can be permanent if the weight of the person undergoing lipo remains relatively consistent afterward.
According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons’ 2020 Plastic Surgery Statistics Report, lipo was one of the top five most commonly performed cosmetic surgical procedures in the U.S. in 2020, with 211,067 patients undergoing the procedure that year. (The report also notes that board-certified physicians stopped performing cosmetic procedures for an average of 8.1 weeks in 2020 due to COVID-19, so this number would likely be higher in normal years.)
Earlier this year, when Schumer first shared that she’d had liposuction, she posted pictures from vacation and acknowledged the work of her two doctors: the surgeon who performed her endometriosis surgery and the surgeon who performed her liposuction. “It’s been a journey thanks for helping me get my strength back @seckinmd (endo) @jordanternermd (lipo),” she wrote.
In September 2021, Schumer had surgery to combat her endometriosis pain. She informed her fans with a post-op Instagram update from the hospital saying she’d had a hysterectomy and a large amount of endometrial tissue removed. “It’s the morning after my surgery for endometriosis, and my uterus is out,” she said in the video. “The doctor found 30 spots of endometriosis.”