LeAnn Rimes Shares Health Update After Surgery To Remove Precancerous Cells

LeAnn Rimes opened up about undergoing a “minor” procedure to remove precancerous cells in a lengthy Instagram post over the weekend.

The Grammy Award-winning artist admitted that January is often “a challenging month for me.” Rimes, 41, explained that it’s often a time she’s gone through dental surgeries or recovered from a vocal hemorrhage around this time of year, “which is all pretty depressing.” This year, Rimes began 2024 “joyful and easeful,” despite undergoing a surgery she opted to publicly talk about “because I think it’s an important reminder to get our annual screenings in order to catch changes that may be taking place within the body early on.

“Several months back, I had my annual pap smear, which came back abnormal. In fact, I’ve had abnormal paps since I was 17 and through regular pap smears and colposcopies, my doctors have been keeping an eye on any cellular changes that could be taking place,” Rimes wrote in her caption on Instagram.

The god’s work singer-songwriter explained that her abnormal pap smear led to a finding of high grade cervical dysplasia. She and her doctor opted to move forward with a LEEP procedure — which “uses a wire loop heated by electric current to remove cells and tissue in a woman’s lower genital tract,” reads a definition provided by John Hopkins Medicine — to remove “the high grade, abnormal, pre-cancerous cells.” Rimes added that the procedure is typically done without anesthesia, though she chose it for her own comer and because “I’ve had enough trauma in my life already… That, my friends, is advocating for your overall, mental wellness and comfort and I HIGHLY recommend it!

“I’ve always been open about my health challenges and this time around is no different,” Rimes continued. “I think it’s important to share what we are going through with one another, and on another level, for me, as someone who has a platform to be able to raise awareness for issues such as psoriasis, mental health and now, women’s wellness and the importance of annual screenings and early detection. So, ladies, please don’t put off getting your annual pap. My men, too… make sure you get your annual physical, minus the pap smear 😂

“Early stages of cervical cancer don’t usually involve symptoms, so annual screenings and early detection can be lifesaving. And I believe, the more shares and conversations we have around women’s wellness, the more we take the ewww factor out of talking about vaginas and put the power back in our hands, to be able to take the best care of our bodies that we can.”

Rimes’ post garnered hundreds of comments, including from women who thanked the singer for her openness and others who shared their own stories. See her post here: