‘If I Get Lipo, Would People Stop Calling Me Fat?’: Raven-Symoné Had Breast Reductions And Liposuction Before Turning 18

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By Dominique Fluker ·Updated August 8, 2023

Although Raven-Symoné achieved success at a young age through stints on known shows like The Cosby Show, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and That’s So Raven, she wasn’t spared from body dysmorphia and the pressures to be perfect body-wise. Recently the 37-year-old actress got candid about the harmful effects of being famous at such a young age, ultimately leading her to pursue cosmetic surgery. On Monday, during the fifth episode of her podcast, The Best Podcast Ever with Raven and Miranda, which she co-hosts with her wife Miranda Pearman-Maday, she revealed that she underwent severe cosmetic surgery before she turned 18. “I had two breast reductions and lipo before I turned 18,” Symoné said.

While Symoné was subjected to body shaming from television appearances, which led to her decision to go under the knife, she claimed her father, Christopher Pearman, supported the surgeries. “There was paperwork involved. My dad strongly suggested that I should get my breasts reduced. He said, ‘So you don’t feel bad, is there anything you want?’ I was like, ‘Yeah if I get lipo, will people stop calling me fat?’ So I got a two-fer.”

In hindsight, Symoné admitted that the ordeal “was just a mess, just being that young and the pain of it all.”

Additionally, she suffered medical complications, which made things a bit more complicated. She mentioned during the episode that she suffered a seizure after she woke up from the first breast reduction surgery. “And I remember waking up and seeing everything . . . I started having this dry mouth and couldn’t breathe and went back under and they were like ‘You have a seizure,’ ” she reflected.

When her wife, Pearman-Maday, asked about her recovery period, Symoné said she dissociated for much of it. “The recovery was a little painful,” she stated. “I still have scar tissue to this day. I gained weight after and had to go back for a little bit more out because they were still too big . . .”

Even with the procedures, the body shaming didn’t stop. She noted on the podcast episode that she “still got reamed through social media because I wasn’t skinny as everybody else, and they still called me fat. You get that done, and it’s still not what everybody wanted to see.”

While she’s feeling more confident nowadays about her appearance and how she presents herself to the world, Symoné also has previously credited her wife Pearman-Maday, whom she married in 2020, for her 30-pound weight loss in 2021. “This was because we want to have a life together,” the actress told E! News in 2021. “She doesn’t want to take me to an early grave, and I want to ensure I am there for her in the best health possible.”