Pop star Anitta ditched birth control after experiencing debilitating symptoms
Brazilian pop star Anitta said goodbye to birth control after experiencing debilitating symptoms.
“Birth control was not natural for me. I felt it was unfair that only women have to deal with it. Hormones made life crazy for me. I couldn’t be myself,” the “Girl From Rio” singer, 31, explained on Monday’s episode of Jay Shetty’s “On Purpose” podcast.
“My body didn’t respond well to hormonal birth control,” she added.
Anitta said that she suffered a myriad of side effects that didn’t outweigh the benefits of birth control.
“[Birth control caused] hair loss, crazy skin, mood swings, depression and no energy close to my period,” she told host Shetty, 36. “It was a rollercoaster.”
The musician stopped taking the medication but noted that it “took more than a year to cleanse from birth control” and stop feeling such symptoms.
“When I started living a more natural life, including a mostly vegan diet, I felt better,” she said of how she managed her health journey after choosing to ditch the contraceptive method.
“I managed two years [as vegan] and now I’m back, but 30 percent less [meat]. If everyone makes small changes, it’s already a big shift for the universe.”
Anitta went on to share her opinion that birth control “should be joint responsibility,” surmising that sexual politics would be much different if men were capable of getting pregnant.
“If men got pregnant, things would be very different,” she asserted. “People don’t realize the side effects of birth control on mood, performance and overall well-being.”
The “Envolver” songstress revealed that she had a copper intrauterine device (IUD), a T-shaped plastic device wrapped in copper that’s inserted into the uterus to prevent pregnancy — which she believes made her endometriosis worse.
“I had a copper IUD, which was terrible for my endometriosis and caused a lot of bleeding,” she said. “Now, I use condoms. They exist for a reason.”
While she isn’t looking to become a mother in the immediate future, Anitta said she hopes to have children one day.
“I pray to the universe and plan when it’s time for me to have children,” she told Shetty. “I want to be ready and have a good partner.”
Anitta’s no-holds-barred “On Purpose” chat also included discussions about the assault she experienced as a teenager, losing 300,000 Instagram followers for referencing her father’s African religion with fans and how she is healing from generational trauma, among other revelations.
She also detailed her time performing with Madonna at the latter’s recent record-breaking concert — attended by a whopping 1.6 million fans — in Rio de Janeiro as the finale of her Celebration Tour.
“[Madonna and I] had a song together on her album some years ago, a funk song on her album. Then, when she came to Brazil, the first thing she said was, ‘OK, we gotta do this.’ I actually couldn’t at first, but then I moved so many things around so I could be there,” Anitta said.
“It was so important.”
