The former Miss Universe goes public with her health woes, revealing that she has been battling 'excruciatingly painful cramps' every month during her periods.

• Aug 28, 2020

AceShowbiz - Olivia Culpo is living with endometriosis and struggles monthly with "excruciatingly painful" periods.

The model and actress took to her Instagram page to explain she relies on "heat pads, lots of water" and painkillers to help her cope with the disorder, which sees the tissue that normally lines the inside of the uterus growing outside of the uterus.

"I've never publicly said this before, but I have endometriosis. Aka the most excruciatingly painful cramps/periods," she said, before admitting that, while there is an operation she could have, she doesn't want to undergo surgery.

The star went on to urge her followers to "do your research" if they are having similar symptoms, explaining, "If you don't discover that you have this it could get in the way of fertility, you can have tissue growing in areas that you really shouldn't have it, which could interfere with getting pregnant someday."

"Definitely go to your doctor if you have painful periods. Painful periods are not normal. You just want to make sure that everything is ok. If you do want to get pregnant, you just never know. You don't want to wait too late."

Olivia tagged her gynaecologist, Dr. Thaiis Aliabadi, who also treats numerous members of the Kardashian/Jenner family, in the post, as she explained that many women have been to see him later in life when struggling with fertility and he's found they've got endometriosis."

"If they had caught it earlier, they could have frozen their eggs and there would have been more options," she said. "So, I feel like if you are someone out there with super painful periods it is very important to take it seriously."