Denise Richards Had Noticed Her Enlarged Thyroid but 'Ignored It' Until Fans Expressed Concern

Denise Richards knew that something was off with her thyroid, but she wouldn’t have made a change if it wasn’t for her fans.

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star, who thanked those fans on Instagram on Sunday for pushing her to address her enlarged thyroid, said in a new interview that she had “ignored it” at first.

“I noticed it, but I ignored it,” Richards, 48, told Dean McDermott, Adam Hunter and Nicky Paris on the latest episode of their Daddy Issues podcast. “I was like, ‘Why does my neck look bigger?’ I had other symptoms, but I just kept ignoring it and finally when a couple people pointed it out I was like, I have to look into it.”

Richards said that her fans noticed it during the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills reunion episodes, and “were concerned because they had thyroid issues.”

Luckily, she said, “it’s not serious at all,” and the mom of three was able to fix the issue quickly. Richards was already having trouble digesting gluten, and decided to cut it out.

Though she doesn’t have celiac disease, Richards said “it was moving in that direction.”

“I quickly eliminated it, and I was shocked how just in a few days, my throat started going down,” she said.

Anecdotally, switching to a gluten-free diet has helped people with enlarged thyroids, also known as goiters, though it has not been studied enough to be a proven medical treatment. However, a clinical study published in July 2018 found that switching to a gluten-free diet did help women who had autoimmune thyroid disease, and Richards said it worked for her.

She’s now thankful to the viewers who pointing out that something was wrong.

“It’s amazing, with social media and being out there, how people can notice certain things,” Richards said. “I was grateful for that.”