How to cope with incontinence? 3 female celebrities on living with urinary leakage

We are a society that has mastered the art of living in denial. Every now and then, even the best of us ‘leak’ spontaneously, but we brush it aside as an anomaly.

“I can’t possibly have a bladder problem. I’m much too young, it only happens to the elderly.”

Admitting we have a problem as embarrassing as urinary leakage is usually the first step towards addressing a health condition. Here we list 3 female celebrities who have helped normalise public discourse on incontinence by opening up about their individual experiences.

“I just can’t jump on trampolines any more. I wet myself,” Kate Winslet famously declared on The Graham Norton Show. The mother of 3 attributes her incontinence to childbirth. “When you’ve had children, you know. It’s just what happens,” she says.

Incontinence can be caused by factors ranging from Urinary Tract Infections (UTI) to medication and old age¹. However, women are twice as likely as men to experience urinary leakage after factoring in the impact of childbirth, pregnancy and menopause on the female anatomy².

Katy Perry is living proof that you don’t have to experience childbirth or old age to have an overactive bladder. She says, “Most people don’t know this, but I actually wore diapers pretty regularly during high school. Looking back I can’t say that I enjoyed wearing diapers in high school, but I think that the whole experience made me a stronger and more understanding person³”.

Although she was candid about her situation, the star had to undergo numerous treatments and lifestyle changes to manage her incontinence. Finally, her doctors discovered and treated an underlying UTI, which was the main source of her urinary leakage⁴.

“Don’t suffer in silence!” is Ella’s advice to women who may be too embarrassed to speak out about this silent yet debilitating condition. In 2019, the Taiwanese singer of the female band S.H.E refuted claims she was expecting a second child after she was spotted at a women and children’s clinic.

The singer revealed she was there for a procedure to fix complications related to a difficult birth. “Sneezing, jumping, running all led to urinary leakage. This was a very big problem for me,” she confessed.

Ella underwent sling surgery, a minimally invasive procedure which involved lifting the prolapsed bladder by adding two ‘strings’⁵.

At Orchard Clinic, we treat Incontinence using non-invasive FDA approved treatments designed to strengthen the pelvic floor. Book an assessment to find out more about your condition and how we can help you regain control of your bladder.

1. https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/urinary-incontinence-older-adults#:~:text=Incontinence%20can%20happen%20for%20many,bladder%20or%20pelvic%20floor%20muscles
2. https://orwh.od.nih.gov/research/maternal-morbidity-and-mortality/information-for-women/urinary-incontinence#:~:text=Urinary%20incontinence%20affects%20twice%20as,muscles%20that%20support%20these%20organs.
3. https://www.my-lyla.co.uk/hello-world/
4. https://www.shieldhealthcare.com/community/news/2018/07/18/famous-people-incontinence/#:~:text=Perry%20went%20through%20numerous%20treatments,by%20a%20urinary%20tract%20infection.
5. https://www.asiaone.com/entertainment/dont-suffer-silence-mums-ella-chen-urinary-incontinence-after-giving-birth