Sofia Vergara reveals her thyroid cancer battle and plans for motherhood


April 18, 2013

Not many people know about Sofia Vergara's battle with cancer. The Modern Family beauty was diagnosed with the disease in 2000, when she was 28, and had to have surgery to remove her thyroid. She was then diagnosed with hypothyroidism — and has been taking medication every day since then to help control her hormone levels. "They removed my thyroid and since then I have to use medication," she revealed. "I got rid of the cancer and then for me it was, 'Oh shoot, now I have to live with this condition my whole life… I have to be on medication my whole life and I don't have a thyroid'."So, of course I had to make myself realise what was going on with my body and I have to say in the past ten years, I never had a problem. I’m very very straight with the way I try to do what the doctor says and I go to my doctor religiously and get my blood tests."

Sofia, 40, is now the spokeswoman for a new campaign, Follow the Script, which aims to educate people with hypothyroidism about the importance of being consistent with the treatment prescribed by their doctor.This week she attended the launch of the campaign, held at Trump Towers, where she spoke in detail about her own experiences with the condition.Sofia revealed that she discovered her thyroid condition while at her son Manolo's doctor's appointment in 2000, where she was convinced to get a check-up. A biopsy followed and she found out her thyroid was cancerous.The Colombian beauty said she is very strict about taking her medication at the same time every morning — although she struggles with not be able to eat for 30 minutes afterwards. "I have the thing (prescription bottle) in my night table and before I go to sleep I put (a tablet) out, so I just open my eyes and take it," she explained. "Usually I’m a morning person, so I want to have breakfast and immediately eat and everything, so for me this is torture! "Like, if I’m working it's fine because the minute I wake up I shower, so while I’m showering a half hour, an hour goes by, but when I’m on the weekend, I’m like in my bed, ‘This is torture waiting 29 minutes … 30 minutes … ok, I can eat something!’" she joked. "But I mean it’s simple, it’s like everything — you get used to it. "This week Sofia also revealed that she is making preparations for motherhood. In an interview with Good Morning America, the Emmy-nominated star confirmed that she has frozen her eggs in anticipation of starting a family with her fiancé Nick Loeb.

"I'm 40 years old, nothing happens that naturally anymore," explained Sofia, who is already a mum to Manolo, 21. "We just wanted to plan ahead. My boyfriend Nicky is three years younger than me, and he's never had a son. I have my son Manolo, so it's not an emergency for me to have another kid. But for Nicky, he's never had a baby.The busy star isn't sure exactly when she and her fiancé will try to expand their family — or even when they will be able to tie the knot. "We would like to buy a house. We are also planning to eventually get married," she said. "I have so much work this year. So definitely this year it's not going to happen," she told the Associated Press.

Sign up to HELLO! Daily for all the latest and best celebrity coverage

Email Address

By entering your details, you are agreeing to HELLO! Magazine User Data Protection Policy. You can unsubscribe at any time. For more information, please click here.

More Celebrity News

See more