Light bladder leakage is often something you don’t think about until it affects you. But with one in three women experiencing LBL, that’s likely to be at some point in your life.
Incontinence (to varying degrees) can be the result of many uncontrollable, but totally normal changes in our body. It can affect all ages and, even though it’s common during or after pregnancy when the pressure placed on the bladder can weaken the pelvic floor muscles, it’s not exclusive to childbirth, or even women, with many men suffering from LBL, too.
But whether your LBL comes about from laughing a little too hard when you really just need to go, or it’s something that reoccurs, it’s nothing to be ashamed of, nor are you alone.
Kris Jenner, Katy Perry, Kate Winslet, Fergie and comedian Sarah Silverman are among the many celebrities to have spoken publicly about their lack of bladder control. Here, the five successful and empowered ladies own their bladder leakage – and show how to take it in your stride.
Kris Jenner
Jenner has spoken openly about her loss of bladder control, which – along with her eventual diagnosis of stress incontinence – has been well-documented on Keeping Up With The Kardashians.
“People think they’re the only ones dealing with this,” the reality star has said. “When you realise that the woman sitting next to you is probably going through the same thing, you feel less lonely.”
Fergie had an accident’ back in 2005 — on stage!
Fergie
It was a bottle of champagne that saved Fergie during a 2005 performance, when she discovered she’d wet her pants on stage… eek!
“We were jumping around, it was all very rock ‘n roll, and my bladder just started… you know…” she explained. “Somebody brought out these champagne bottles because it was the New Year, and I basically opened one up and squirted it all over myself, so nobody would notice.”
Katy Perry has admitted she often wore nappies as a teenager.
Katy Perry
The multi-platinum artist has talked openly about her loss of bladder control, revealing she regularly wore nappies in high school.
“Looking back I can’t say that I enjoyed [it], but I think that the whole experience made me a stronger and more understanding person,” the singer has confessed.
Kate Winslet has experience LBL since becoming a mother.
Kate Winslet
Like many mothers, Kate experienced LBL after giving birth.
“When you’ve had a few children you know, it’s just what happens,” the mother of three revealed during an appearance on The Graham Norton Show.
“It’s amazing; two sneezes, I’m fine. Three, it’s game over,” she added jokingly. “I can’t jump on trampolines anymore, [or] I wet myself. It’s bloody awful, especially if you’re wearing a skirt.”
Comedian Sarah Silverman went so far as to name her book The Bedwetter.
Sarah Silverman
Comedian, writer and producer Sarah Silverman has owned her incontinence struggles to the extent that she titled her 2010 memoir The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption, and Pee!
In it, she detailed her chronic bed-wetting that started as a child and continued into her teens, culminating in a depression that lasted three years. She compared living with bladder weakness to “carrying a deep dark secret,” but has said her resulting experience with depression has led her to “really understand the value of happiness.”
