In an interview with The Breakfast Club this week to promote her new comedy, Girls Trip, which comes out July 21, comedian Tiffany Haddish told a whole host of interesting stories. One of them was about the time she ended up getting toxic shock syndrome at 13 and almost died. But leave it to The Carmichael Show star to find a way to see the humor in such a dangerous situation.
“So this is like the third period I ever had,” she told the hosts. “There were no maxi pads, nothing in the house, nothing to use. But under the sink there were these super absorbent tampons. So I was like, ‘Psh, forget it.’ So I put it in and I only had it in for about four or five hours, but as soon as I took it out I started itching, started scratching.”
From there, Haddish said things started to get really bad. She was raised by her grandmother, and while her mother, who was visiting during the incident, didn’t see the severity of her condition, her grandmother did.
“My grandmother was there and my mom had come over. My mom was like, ‘Just give her some Herbalife! That’s all she needs.’ But everything I ate I kept throwing up,” she said. “Every time I drank water, throwing up. My tongue — I got a big tongue. It started to shrink. It go so swollen and little that it was choking me. I scratched holes all over my skin. You know how you go outside chasing the ice cream truck in the summertime and you know if you go barefoot you burn your feet a little bit? It was like that all over my body. Just burnt…My eyes were sunk in, I was completely dehydrated.”
Once she was taken to the hospital, the star finally gained an understanding of what was happening to her, along with a warning to never use a tampon again.
“My grandma took me to the children’s hospital,” she said. “The lady was like, ‘Are you having sex?’ I was like, ‘No but I want to [laughs].’ She asked me if I used tampons, I said, ‘Yeah, I used one.’ She said, ‘Well why are you using tampons?’ I said, ‘Because there’s nothing else to use.’ She said, ‘Are you sure you’re not having sex? How did you get it in there?’ I was like, ‘It took a long time and it hurt really bad but I got it in there.’ It was so uncomfortable. I was like, ‘Dang, it hurts to walk.’ I was like, ‘I don’t know why girls like this,’ and then I looked back at the directions and was like, oh okay [laughs].”
“I ended up having to stay in the hospital for three days,” Haddish added. “They hooked me up with all these IVs. I had my first pap smear and they basically broke my hymen. They put fingers in all your holes. It was the worst. And the lady told me, ‘If you ever use tampons again, it would be like committing suicide. The reason you’re so sick off of the tampon is because they put a chemical in there that is the same chemical they put in rat poisoning. And the bigger the tampon is, the more poison in there so you bleed more. So, you’re allergic to this poison and that’s why you have toxic shock.'”
In replacement of tampons, Haddish revealed that she’s a big fan of the menstrual cup. She took heed of her doctor’s warning and is avoiding tampons by any means necessary, even if she admits that pulling out her cup can be like dealing with a “crime scene” from time to time…
Check out her story below, starting at the 29:50 mark:
The post About That Time Comedian Tiffany Haddish Got Toxic Shock Syndrome The First Time She Used A Tampon appeared first on MadameNoire.