Janel Parrish Turns Pain Into Purpose After Debilitating Diagnosis: ‘My Organs Were Stuck Together’

In recent months, Hallmark star and “Pretty Little Liars” alum Janel Parrish has bravely opened up about her difficult endometriosis diagnosis. But on March 3, 2026, she gave Gurus Magazine an even more detailed and intimate look at her debilitating journey with the disease.

Based on initial imaging and Parrish’s symptoms, including a distended belly and horrible pain, doctors initially thought she had ovarian cancer, she told the outlet. But after excision surgery in December, she learned that she had stage four endometriosis that “was basically everywhere,” she revealed.

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Janel Parrish Says She Was ‘Writhing in Pain’ Amid Endometriosis Diagnosis

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Parrish’s disease was likely growing in her abdomen for years but, unlike many women, she didn’t experience pain until it was very advanced, she told Gurus Magazine. The condition, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine, occurs when endometrial tissue, which lines the uterus, grows outside the uterus and builds up, causing “inflammation, scarring and painful cysts.”

Initially, Parrish said, her symptoms included heavier and more painful periods after going off birth control. The “Sugarplummed” star also gained 10 pounds she couldn’t lose, she told the outlet, and her abdomen kept swelling to the point that she said she “constantly looked like I was pregnant,” a symptom commonly known as “endo belly.”

“Ironically,” Parrish told the outlet, the debilitating pain didn’t hit until “the night that my husband and I decided to start trying for kids,” when she experienced “a stabbing electrical pain” in her right ovary that lasted about a week. She recalled, “It got to the point where I couldn’t sleep. I was writhing in pain. Sobbing.”

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Doctors Were ‘Shocked’ by What They Found During Janel Parrish’s Latest Surgery

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When a CT scan at urgent care and, later, an MRI “lit up,” Parrish told Gurus, her doctors suspected cancer. There’s no test to diagnose endometriosis, so her gynecologic oncologist had to go in surgically to determine what was going on. After surgery, Parrish was relieved to learn it wasn’t cancer, but was diagnosed with stage four endometriosis. The medicine she was given to control symptoms brought new side effects, and within six months the disease was taking over again.

“My pain was a 12,” she said of pushing through and continuing to film projects, but admitted she was always nervous that she’d wind up doubled over in pain behind the scenes.

When her doctor opted not to do another surgery and suggested she just get pregnant, Parrish was “furious,” she said, and sought opinions from four other doctors, all of whom agreed her endometriosis was severe and that she needed surgery. Multiple referrals led her to Dr. Iris Kerin Orbuch, who performed surgery in December.

“They were shocked at the amount of disease I had,” she recalled. “Endometriosis was basically everywhere. All of my organs were stuck together.”

Parrish said that when her surgeon said they’d removed every bit of endometriosis that was visible, “I just burst into tears. I felt so grateful.” And her symptoms disappeared, she said, calling the difference “night and day.”

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Janel Parrish Hopes to Be a Light as Other Women Struggle With Endometriosis

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Parrish is hopeful that because her December excision surgery removed the disease “at the root,” that she will be symptom free for a long time. But she knows there are many of women who are still struggling like she did. In fact, when she decided to open about her diagnosis via social media, she heard from thousands of women who had experienced something simliar.

When she was struggling, Parris told Gurus, “I combed the internet for hours to find stories about women going through the same thing. It made me feel less alone.”

So now Parrish is turning her pain into purpose, using her platform to speak out about her own journey and the need for the medical community o know more about the disease.

In December, shortly after her excision surgery, Parrish wrote in an Instagram post, “It is my hope to continue to spread awareness about #endometriosis so here we are. I want to share my story in the hopes that it can help others dealing with this very painful and isolating disease.”

Three months later, she told Gurus, “Any kind of spotlight we can shine on this disease — I am so happy to lend my voice.”

Parrish will next appear opposite “When Calls The Heart” star Chris McNally in Hallmark’s “Two For Tee,” premiering on March 21 at 8 p.m. Eastern time.