Alyssa Milano, 53, Reveals the Benefits of Having Her Breast Implants Removed: ‘I Can Breathe’

Alyssa Milano is feeling happier and healthier these days.

The 53-year-old Charmed actress, who revealed in September that she was undergoing breast implant removal surgery, said she made the right decision.

“Physically, my neck doesn’t hurt as much,” she told Yahoo’s Unapologetically series in an interview published Thursday, February 12.

“My back doesn’t hurt. I can sit up straight. I can breathe,” she added. “When I had implants, every deep breath felt like something was sitting on my rib cage. I feel so much better. Maybe it’s psychosomatic.”

The actress — who starred in TV series including Who’s the Boss? and Melrose Place — explained that her breast implants “were tied to a version of myself that was sexualized in my 20s.”

“I felt like I needed big boobs to keep working, to have longevity, to fit an image,” she said. “Removing them felt like it didn’t matter anymore.”

Admitting that feeling sexualized early on in her career “came with a lot of heartache,” including “sexual assaults,” she said that “letting go of that felt incredibly important.”

“I did it because they felt heavy and inflammatory,” she explained, “but the emotional release was just as significant.”

In September, Milano shared a photo of herself to Instagram that appeared to be taken right before her surgery.

“Today I’m releasing those false narratives, the parts of me that were never actually parts of me,” she told followers. “I’m letting go of the body that was sexualized, that was abused, that I believed was necessary for me to be attractive; to be loved; to be successful; to be happy.”

In doing so, Milano — who shares son Milo Thomas, 14, and daughter Elizabella Dylan, 11, with husband David Bugliari — said she hoped to release “my daughter Bella from ever feeling those same unhealthy demands.”

Acknowledging that some women “find freedom and beauty in choosing their implants,” she said that was just not the case for her.

“What is a false narrative for me may be the exact right thing for them, and I am so happy that we can all find our femininity and peace on our own terms,” she wrote. “Today I am loved, I am feminine, I am attractive, and I am successful. None of that is because of my implants. I will still be all of those things when I wake up and they are gone.”