For a very long time, the center of a woman’s value often existed outside of her. She could look toward marriage, motherhood, family, male approval, social acceptance or institutional usefulness and receive confirmation that she mattered because she fulfilled the role she had been assigned. Now, more women are asking a much more unsettling question: Who am I when usefulness is no longer the price of my existence?

In 2014, the year she won an Academy Award, Lupita was privately diagnosed with uterine fibroids at age 31. Nearly 30 fibroids were discovered after she insisted on further imaging following years of escalating pain and prolonged periods. She was offered two options: invasive surgery or live with the pain. She chose a myomectomy in November 2014.