Greenleaf star Deborah Joy Winans is ready to share the excitement of her family’s expansion. The actress tells ESSENCE about her pregnancy.
“As long as I can get to 28, we should be okay,” Winans tells the publication. Deborah and her husband, Terrence Williams, were overjoyed to learn that their family was expanding. The way the couple got wind of the joyous news, however, was unique.
Deborah booked an acting gig on OWN’s holiday movie Sisterly Christmas. The entertainer was excited to have good news in the atmosphere after learning that she had developed fibroids. Deborah was attempting to hold off on the surgery to remove her fibroids when she felt another sense of awkwardness in her body.
“I kept telling Terrance, I was like, ‘Baby, something’s wrong.’ And he was like, ‘Well, have you had your period?’ I said, ‘Well, no, but it’s coming though,'” Deborah Joy Winans tells ESSENCE. “He was like, ‘Yeah … you’re pretty regular.'”
Winans’ missed period was due to her expectancy of a child. The thrilling news of her pregnancy, however, was soon overshadowed by complications that left Deborah in pain.
“I was in so much pain,” Winans reveals. “I didn’t even understand what was happening,” the celebrity shares. “I could barely get out of bed,” the actress adds. “The pain would hit so hard and I would have to crawl to the bathroom, literally crawl. I was in tears.”
The pain became so unbearable on the set of Sisterly Christmas that Deborah was forced to explain to producers that she was pregnant and unable to perform one of the scenes because of the intense pain she was experiencing. The producers got her to a hospital where Winans was informed that her fibroids degenerating was the cause of the immense pain.
Some women choose to keep their battle with fibroids a secret out of shame. Deborah Joy Winans, however, wants the public to know about her struggles in the hope of encouraging women to be aware of changes in their bodies.
“The more that we are aware of our bodies and what’s going on and what to look for, the more we can hold them accountable for what it is they should be doing and what they need to be doing to make sure we’re okay,” the Greenleaf star shares with ESSENCE. “I don’t want anybody to have to go through that,” Deborah adds.
“And if I can make them aware of what I am going through, what I’ve been through, and different ways to sort of combat that, then I want to do that because we’re all we got.”
Photo: Elton Anderson
