Lili Reinhart has had more than her fair share of health issues. The Riverdale actress was diagnosed with alopecia in 2024, saying at the time that she was “in the midst of a major depressive episode.” She’s had COVID-19 multiple times, an eating disorder, and is currently trying to find the root cause of inflammation problems with her gut. Now a new and difficult challenge has come up: Reinhart has been diagnosed with interstitial cystitis.
Interstitial cystitis is a bladder condition where the organ becomes inflamed, causing pain and the feeling of needing to pee very frequently. There is, unfortunately, no cure, and doctors aren’t even sure of the exact causes of the condition. And because most sufferers are women, and likely to suffer pain specifically around the vagina, it’s not much discussed at all. Plenty of people have never even heard of it.
Reinhart spoke out about her diagnosis during an interview with Self magazine. She first discovered symptoms while filming American Sweatshop last year. “The third night I’m there, I developed symptoms of a UTI. I’m like, ‘I’ve had UTIs before. I’m a woman. We all know how it feels,’” she remembered. But although she had a slight infection, a UTI wasn’t the problem. “The second I’m done peeing, I still feel like I have to pee, but my pee is showing up with no infection,” she said. That was the cystitis—but it was hard to get a diagnosis.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, Reinhart had to deal with the pain while suffering from mental health issues and the serious illness of her grandmother. Behind the scenes of her October 2024 mental health awareness speech at the White House, she was in a bad way. “That’s the ironic thing that people don’t see,” she said. “I’m literally in Washington, DC, at the White House giving a speech on mental health. And then that same night, I am sobbing, in so much discomfort, and feel so defeated.”
Finally, Reinhart got a cystoscopy and the interstitial cystitis diagnosis. “No one ever knows what that is when I talk about it,” she told Self. “But my urogyno is telling me so many women have this, and that’s why I think it’s as important as it is to just be like, ‘Hey, I’m dealing with it too.’”
I’m a fellow cystitis sufferer. When I was a teenager I had recurrent cystitis, and it was so bad it disrupted many school classes and days out. There was very little help available back then—adults simply would not discuss it. There was no advice on how to alleviate the pain. So it’s good to hear Reinhart speaking out.
Alongside the Self magazine interview, Reinhart has taken to Instagram to share her health battle. “Being diagnosed with interstitial cystitis while simultaneously searching for answers about a mysterious autoimmunity/inflammatory disease made 2024 the hardest year of my life,” she wrote on the platform. Then, she spoke about her grandmother. She was “ignored by doctors for months when exhibiting clear symptoms of cancer,” Reinhart said. Only by advocating for herself did she get a diagnosis—and “by then, the cancer had spread.” Unfortunately, many women will recognize this exact scenario.
“The most important thing I have taken away from this experience is the absolute need to advocate for your own health,” Reinhart concluded her post. “Do not let a doctor gaslight you or diminish your pain. I hope the men and women out there struggling to find answers feel even the slightest bit seen by my experience.”
It’s impossible not to feel for Reinhart after everything she’s been through. Hopefully, 2025 will be a better year for her than 2024.
Published: Jan 25, 2025 08:42 am