Umair
Amy Schumer is looking on the bright side of internet trolling.
The comic actress credits Internet trolls for helping her discover a surprising health condition.
On the Jan. 22 episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast, Schumer, 43, shared that she was initially unaware she had Cushing syndrome until online commenters began criticizing her appearance.
“A year ago, the Internet really came for me,” she told host Alex Cooper. “I was like, ‘Okay, everybody, like, relax,’” she said of ignoring the comments about her swollen face at first.
Things changed when medical professionals chimed in on her posts, offering their diagnoses based solely on her appearance. “Doctors were chiming in in the comments and they were, like, ‘No, no … something’s really up. Your face looks so crazy,’” Schumer recalled.
Cushing syndrome, as described by the Mayo Clinic, via People, occurs when the hormone cortisol remains in the body for an extended period, often due to prolonged steroid use. It can lead to weight gain, acne, and a swollen, round face referred to as “moon face.”
“At first, I was like, ‘F—k off,’” Schumer said. However, she eventually realized the comments might hold truth.
“Wait, I have been getting steroid injections for my scars,” she explained, referencing treatments she underwent after her breast reduction and Cesarean section.
Schumer, who shares 5-year-old son Gene with husband Chris Fischer, revealed her diagnosis in February 2024.
She admitted it was a shock: “So I got these … steroid injections, and so it gave me this thing called Cushing syndrome — which I wouldn’t have known if the Internet hadn’t come for me so hard.”
The timing of her diagnosis added to the stress, as Schumer was preparing to star in the Netflix comedy Kinda Pregnant, premiering on Feb. 5.
She recounted her fears about filming while dealing with the condition. “I learned I had this condition, and that I had something called moon face, and I’m starring in a movie — and there’s a camera right in my face,” she said.
While others reassured her she looked fine, one friend bluntly pointed out, “Your face is looking, like, a little bit insane.”
Schumer said she eventually “got rid” of the condition, noting that it “just has to work itself out.”
However, before filming, she struggled with her confidence. “I was feeling really down on myself before I started filming this movie … I was, like, really having trouble figuring out how I was going to star in a movie while I had this going on.”
It took encouragement from her friend, director Lorraine Caffery, to boost her self-esteem.
“She told me, ‘You know, I think you look f—ing great.’ I just needed one person to just amp me up,” Schumer said.
