Cousins! Raven Symone is opening up about her younger years in fame and how negative comments surrounding her body as a teenager led her to undergo cosmetic surgery!
In a recently released episode of ‘The Best Podcast Ever with Raven and Miranda,’ the 37-year-old revealed that she had liposuction and breast reductions before turning 18 years old. Raven explains that she received body shaming while appearing on television and that pushed her to make alterations to her body.
She also shared that her father Christopher Pearmam supported her decisions and strongly suggested she get the size of her breast reduced. “There was paperwork involved. My dad suggested strongly that I should get my breasts reduced. He was like, ‘So you don’t feel bad, is there anything that you want?’ I was like, ‘Yeah if I get lipo, will people stop calling me fat?’ So I got a two-fer.”
Upon reflecting on her decisions Raven described the ordeal as being a mess. She says that she remembers being young and in a lot of pain. She went on to reveal that she suffered a seizure after she woke up from her first breast reduction procedure.
“And I remember waking up and seeing everything . . . I started having this dry mouth and couldn’t breathe and went back under and they were like ‘You have a seizure,’ ” she recounted.
Her wife and fellow co-host Miranda asked about the severity of her recovery process in which Raven replied that she had disassociated most of it.
“The recovery was a little painful,” Raven recalled. “I still have scar tissue to this day. I gained weight after and had to go back for a little bit more out because they were still too big . . .”
During the podcast, Raven shared how the negative comments surrounding her body didn’t stop despite the surgeries.
“Still got reamed through social media because I wasn’t skinny as everybody else and they still called me fat. You get that done and it’s still not what everybody wanted to see.”
Despite the obstacles she endured as a teenager and young adult, Raven shared in a 2021 interview with E News, that she lost a total of 30 pounds, as she credits Miranda for her patience and motivation.
“This was because we want to have a life together,” said the actress. “She doesn’t want to take me to an early grave and I want to make sure I am there for her in the best health possible.”