The Bachelorette alum Clare Crawley has revealed she plans to undergo surgery to remove her breast implants, which doctors believe have been making Clare feel sick for years.
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Clare has therefore decided to take her implants out for the sake of her health.
The 40-year-old Season 16 The Bachelorette star took to Instagram over the weekend and posted a very "vulnerable" six-minute video about how she's been dealing with "medical" issues that caused her to take a break from social media recently.
"Coming to Terms. I'm sharing this in hopes that it might help others going through something similar feel not so alone," Clare captioned the post.
"I feel that this was important to share so I can be a resource for anyone going though this as well. I know how being your own health advocate is hard sometimes, and can feel like an uphill battle. This is the reality of life for so many people though!"
"I'm just so incredibly thankful to all the people who are in my life that support me not only in my peaks but in the valleys as well," she added in the caption.
Clare explained in the video how she didn't have answers regarding her medical concerns "for a couple years."
"It's been hard and it's been frustrating and it's been scary for me to not have answers and to know something is not right," Clare said.
Following "test after test after test" in private, Clare said she's finally to share what she's been going through with her followers and fans.
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"It's been a lot, and it's been hard sometimes pretending like things are okay when you know you're not doing okay... I've tried every remedy and detoxing thing in the world," Clare noted, adding that she has checked out naturopathy and seen multiple doctors and specialists.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOW"Ultimately my skin has been having really bad hives and rash all down my stomach and my neck... and on my arms. My whole body is just inflamed and itchy. The worst part usually gets around my eyes. I've had blood test after blood test and medication after medication after antibiotic after antihistamine and Benadryl -- just everything in the book."
Clare confirmed the red rash hasn't been her only symptom but is the most prominent physical one.
"It comes and goes in waves... and it's so frustrating. There's been a lot of other symptoms, but it all came to a head about a month ago when I was at the chiropractor. I got an X-ray and he goes, 'Hey, you might want to go get a mammogram,' because I have implants, obviously, and behind one of them was a huge pocket of fluid or a big space that he saw," Clare explained.
Clare therefore "gladly" had an "easy" mammogram, which she needed at age 40 regardless, and doctors discovered "some stuff going on in suspicious areas."
More mammograms and an ultrasound followed, and Clare recalled, "Essentially they found fluid sacs behind my implants... That's where we're at now... My white blood count for the last five years has been up... and has been elevated this whole time and has been fighting something that we didn't know."
Clare therefore revealed, "As much as I love my implants, my body is fighting them and recognizes them, obviously, as something foreign in my body. I know this is not everybody's case; this is my case and my body."
"My glands are swollen, my glands are still swollen. But my body can't heal. My body is in fight mode constantly. It's exhausting, it's depressing, it's frustrating," Clare said. "So here's the deal: it's all making sense and it's all coming together."
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"I love my health more; I love my well-being more," Clare noted. "That's what matters."
Clare also shared how her boyfriend -- Clare's The Bachelorette winner for Season 16, Dale Moss -- is totally onboard with Clare's plan to remove her breast implants.
"I was talking to Dale the other day and he even said, 'Your boobs are not what make you beautiful.' And it's the truth. For so long I believed that that's what it would take," Clare said as she broke down into tears.
"My health is the most important thing... and so they're coming out! I'm ready to go through this. I'm ready to bring you guys along with me on this part of my healing because it's been a long time coming."
Clare called her relationship with her health and the decision to embrace her natural body "the ultimate love story."
"[The ultimate story] is loving my body enough and knowing [my boobs] are not what makes me beautiful. My health and happiness is what matters," Clare confirmed.
"So, I'm excited to share this with you guys!"
Supportive and encouraging comments poured in from Clare's friends, including a sweet message from Dale himself.
"So proud of you for sharing this love," Dale wrote in the comments section of the post. "I know this wasn't easy but will help so many other women going through what you've been experiencing. I love you [and am] with you every step of the way."
After Dale and Clare announced their breakup in January, the pair were spotted holding hands and going on dates in February, and subsequent hangout sessions continued to raise eyebrows and spark reconciliation speculation.
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Dale appeared to confirm he got back together with Clare on April 7 when he posted a mirror selfie of the couple drinking coffee together on Instagram Stories. They have since taken a romantic trip to Hawaii and documented their love on social media.
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Once Tayshia Adams took over Clare's The Bachelorette season, Clare and Dale sat down with host Chris Harrison during a November 2020 episode and expressed how they both believed they had found love at first sight.
When Chris asked what was next for the couple, Clare immediately shouted, "Babies!"
But Dale noted he'd like to get married before welcoming children.
"I've never been afraid of commitment," Dale told People in a joint interview with Clare last year.
"And when I met Clare, I knew I was all in. She lights a fire in me that I was missing for so long."
But Dale announced his split from Clare on January 19, saying the pair had arrived at "the healthiest decision" for the "both" of them, but then Clare revealed two days later she had been blindsided by Dale's public statement.
Clare wrote on Instagram, "I was made aware of a 'mutual' statement at the same time you all were, so I've needed some time to really digest this."
Clare admitted she was "crushed" by the breakup given her intentions to settle down with Dale and start a family had "always been very clear."
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The Season 16 The Bachelorette star added that she had been "genuinely invested with all of [her] heart" into Dale and their relationship, although it "was not perfect."
Multiple sources had described Dale as a "fame-seeker," according to E! News.
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"[Dale] doesn't want to give up the party life. He loves the NYC scene," a source told E! News earlier this year. "His partying would be a problem in their relationship and would cause many fights."
And the E! News source noted of Clare, "She just wants to get married, settle down and have children. They were on complete different pages."
Dale insisted on his Instagram Stories at the time that the split "didn't come out of nowhere" and he was struggling to move on, according to Us.
"I love Clare and respect Clare enough to let her know how I feel, even if that's against the expectations of everybody else, and it's gonna take time," Dale reportedly shared on January 25.
"I wanted nothing more than to make this relationship work, and I put my heart and soul into it each and every day. And I wanted nothing more than to build a healthy relationship."
Dale subsequently broke down to his followers in an Instagram video and said he was "hurting."
"This has f-cking rocked me. I felt so many emotions, so much guilt, but also so much confusion, so much hurt, and I know that we both have... But the reality of it is, life isn't perfect," Dale reportedly lamented, on the verge of tears.
"And we make mistakes. I've made a lot of them, I know we all do. My pops would always say you gotta hurt before you heal. I've been f-cking hurting. A lot."
One month after announcing their breakup, a source told Us that Dale and Clare were working on their relationship, "spending time together" and "figuring things out."
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
