This Morning star Ashley James has revealed she needs surgery for incontinence, a condition she developed after the traumatic birth of her son nearly six years ago. The 39-year-old, a regular contributor to the ITV programme, opened up about her experience on Wednesday (September 30).
Sharing Her Story on Social Media
Over the weekend, the former Made in Chelsea star posted about living with incontinence on social media. She wrote: “Lots of you will know that since having Alf I’ve lived with various birth complications, and one of them is incontinence.”
She continued: “Our bodies go through huge, sometimes permanent sacrifices to bring children into the world, and we deserve support, not shame.” Ashley added: “I’m still doing my pelvic floor training, still putting off the surgery, but in the meantime I’m not letting it stop me living my life.”
Planning Around the Condition
Speaking on This Morning, Ashley described an incident in Paris where she saw Celine Dion with her partner and left her washbag, containing pads, on the Eurostar. Without them, she feared she couldn't go out, explaining: “When you experience something like incontinence, you have to plan your days and evenings around this physical thing that nobody on the outside really sees but you know can happen. I try not to feel shame or embarrassment around it.”
She noted that the incontinence began after the “traumatic” birth of her son, resulting in both bladder and bowel incontinence. “The reason we are so shamed into silence, it doesn’t help anybody, it doesn’t help women. And it is something where you feel you’re the only person going through it, or you’re embarrassed,” she said.
Diagnosis and Surgery
Ashley, a mother of two, explained she had prolapse after giving birth, which she didn't realise she could have at such a young age. During check-ups after birth, her stitches were not checked, and she felt like an “after thought”. When she returned to exercise, a physio who had treated her for pelvic girdle pain diagnosed her with prolapse and told her the faecal incontinence was “not normal”.
She said: “I think because of so much secrecy and mystery around birth, I just assumed, in the ‘mother and baby doing fine’ that maybe everyone goes through this but no one talks about it because it’s really embarrassing and humiliating.”
Referred back to hospital, Ashley discovered she had not been stitched up all the way and confirmed she now has to have surgery. She added: “For anyone that experiences incontinence, it’s not something you have to put up with. And I will have to have surgery.”
