Raven-Symoné Reflects on Teen Breast Reduction and Body Image Struggles
Raven-Symoné recounted her painful history of having a breast reduction at 15 on a recent episode of the podcast “Tea Time with Raven-Symoné & Miranda.”
On the episode, which featured guest Michelle Buteau, Raven-Symoné spoke to the “Babes” star and her wife, Miranda Pearman-Maday, about getting a breast reduction as a teenager around the 6-minute mark of the video below. The conversation began with Buteau revealing that she’d recently gotten her second breast reduction, her first one being performed at 20.
“I was a triple D all the way down to a B,” Raven-Symoné said about the procedure, adding that “someone said I needed to do it in order to get a show.”
From 2003 to 2007, Raven-Symoné led the former Disney Channel sitcom ‘That’s So Raven,’ which heightened her body image issues as her figure was allegedly heavily edited in one episode of the show, as recalled in the book, “Disney High,” per E! News. Following the breast reduction, Raven-Symoné got liposuction. “I was like, ‘One-for-one, bro. Let’s go,’” she said on the podcast.
“It's different ‘cause when you gain weight, those boobs come back no matter what,” she added.
Earlier in the episode, Raven-Symoné guessed that young boys used to watch “That’s So Raven” to glance at her breasts. “I felt like boys watched the show because I had big boobs,” she said. “I feel like that was the case. They came for the boobs and stayed for the comedy.”
Last year, Raven-Symoné told her wife on the podcast “The Best Podcast Ever with Raven and Miranda” that she’d gotten two breast reductions before turning 18. "There was paperwork involved. My dad suggested strongly that I should get my breasts reduced,” she said at the time. “He was like, 'So you don’t feel bad, is there anything that you want?' I was like, 'Yeah, if I get lipo, will people stop calling me fat?' So I got a two-fer.”