For years, Victoria Monét had questions about her body that nobody in a medical setting seemed interested in answering. The 37-year-old singer behind “On My Mama” recently revealed that she had been living with polycystic ovary syndrome, commonly known as PCOS, without ever being informed that the condition might explain what she was experiencing. It was not until she sought out a new physician that the picture finally came together.
Speaking during an interview with Sirius XM, Victoria Monét described the moment she learned about her diagnosis as both clarifying and unsettling. Her previous gynecologists had never raised the possibility that PCOS could be at the root of her symptoms, leaving her to navigate the effects of the condition without any framework for understanding them.
The diagnosis came after an ultrasound revealed cysts on her ovaries, a visual confirmation that made a number of things from her past suddenly make sense. Victoria Monét reflected on years spent in long-term relationships without using protection, during which she never became pregnant, and described the moment she understood that her fertility challenges had a medical explanation she had simply never been given.
What PCOS is and why Victoria Monét never heard of it sooner
Polycystic ovary syndrome is a hormonal condition that affects roughly one in ten women of childbearing age. Its symptoms can include weight gain, excessive hair growth, irregular periods and difficulties with fertility, a range of effects that are often treated in isolation rather than recognized as part of a larger pattern. For many women, the condition goes undiagnosed for years, not because it is rare but because awareness of it remains surprisingly limited even within clinical settings.
Victoria Monét made clear during her interview that her experience is far from unique. She pointed to the large number of women who go through daily life with no understanding of what PCOS is, what its symptoms look like or that there is currently no cure for it. Managing the condition requires awareness of the hormonal shifts it causes, and that management is impossible without a diagnosis to start from.
The gap she described, between how common PCOS is and how little most people know about it, is a problem that extends well beyond her personal story.
A broader conversation among Black women
Monét’s disclosure adds her voice to a growing chorus of public figures drawing attention to PCOS, particularly within Black communities. Other prominent Black women including Lori Harvey and Keke Palmer have spoken publicly about their own experiences with the condition, helping to bring visibility to a health issue that has historically received limited attention.
Research suggests that Black women with PCOS may face more severe symptoms than women in other demographic groups, which makes early and accurate diagnosis even more important. The combination of undertreated symptoms and limited awareness creates a significant health gap that advocates and medical professionals have been pushing to close.
Monét’s situation, in which multiple gynecology visits passed without any mention of PCOS, reflects a pattern that many women describe when sharing their diagnostic journeys. The condition is well-documented and widely recognized in medical literature, which makes its absence from routine conversations between doctors and patients all the more difficult to explain.
What Victoria Monét wants other women to take away
The throughline of Victoria Monét’s message is not frustration, though that would be understandable, but awareness. She spoke about the importance of women knowing that these symptoms exist, that they have a name and that they can be addressed once properly identified.
Her openness about a deeply personal health experience is already contributing to a wider conversation. For anyone who has spent years wondering why their body behaves the way it does, her story is a reminder that the answer may be out there, even if the right doctor has not come along yet.
