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*Actress Naomie Harris is opening up about her battle with scoliosis when she was 11-years-old and how it affected her childhood.
The 43-year-old beauty graces the cover of Shape Magazine‘s October issue, where she recalls being diagnosed with scoliosis and how the disease worsened in her teens. It got so bad that a rod had to be placed down her spine to correct it.
“I spent a month in the hospital recovering and had to learn how to walk again. It was really traumatic,” Harris tells the magazine.
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“I saw kids in the hospital with scoliosis so advanced that they would never be able to stand properly,” she added. “I felt really lucky. Since then, I have always appreciated the gift of a healthy body.”
Harris says she regularly works out and practices meditation and she avoids alcohol and caffeine.
“I don’t abuse my body, Health is the greatest thing you can have.”
After her scoliosis operation, it took several years for her lead an active lifestyle again.
“I didn’t want to do anything that could hurt me in any way,” she added. “I was very protective of my body.”
“So now I do Pilates twice a week. It’s physically challenging but in a nuanced way,” she said.
Harris shared her Shape magazine cover on Instagram along with the caption: “Thank you a million times over @shape for this honour, and for allowing me to talk about all the things closest to my heart… like my battle with #scoliosis at a young age and how it changed my whole perspective on health.”
You can next catch the Naomi Harris starring opposite Tyrese Gibson in “Black and Blue,” in theaters October 25th.
