Janet Caperna shared that she recently suffered from acute gastritis and colitis that caused her to lose nearly 20 pounds in 12 days.
The “Valley” star told the Daily Mail in comments published Friday that she couldn’t stop vomiting after an evening of revelry over the holidays with family and friends — landing her in the hospital twice.
Caperna explained to the outlet that she initially thought she had food poisoning.
“It’s usually set off by something like food poisoning and it was just wreaking havoc on my body,” she explained, referencing the diagnosis.
“It was like my insides were wrung out and it felt like I had hot glass moving through me.”
The serious illness left the Bravo star, 36, feeling there was “no relief” from her suffering. “If I had a baby sip of water I would throw up,” she divulged.
Caperna — who has been on “The Valley” since its first season in 2024 — also shared that she feels she needs to explain her appearance after losing so much weight.
“I look sick, so I can’t just start going about my normal life again and not say something, because if I post on Instagram people are gonna be like, ‘Are you okay?”‘ the reality star said.
“I don’t want to glamorize looking like this because I look genuinely ill.”
Caperna took to Instagram to share clips of herself discussing the “serious health scare” that left her in “constant pain” and “unable to eat.”
“I’ve had a pretty rough go at it the last 2 weeks as I got super sick with what ended up being acute gastritis,” she wrote in the caption, noting that she will “probably will look pretty unhealthy for the next few months” as she attempts to gain the weight back.
She also divulged that she’s on the mend. “I am finally starting to feel so much better and am incredibly grateful for my family and friends that have checked in and been so supportive as I navigated this,” she wrote.
Her husband, Jason Caperna, took to the comments thread to support his wife and co-star.
“I’ve watched how hard the last few weeks have been on you — the fear, the exhaustion, the setbacks — and I’m beyond proud of the strength you’ve shown through all of it,” he wrote. “You never stopped fighting. I love you so much. Bright days ahead.”
On her “This Side of the Hill” podcast, the Bravo personality confessed that she overindulged in alcohol and other excesses over the holidays — including “a third of a cheese wheel on Thanksgiving.”
“The doctor basically said that my stomach and intestines were inflamed because I’d put something in there that wasn’t sitting well with my body,” she recalled.
Over a year and a half following the birth of her son Cameron in 2023, Janet previously achieved dramatic weight loss through diet and exercise.
“I feel like I worked so hard over the last year to go to Pilates and to eat at home most of the time to lose weight in a really healthy way,” she told the Daily Mail.
“Instead of jumping on Ozempic to lose my baby weight, I did it the hard way,” she added.
“I was physically strong, I had muscles and felt really good about myself, and now I just feel like a pile of bones.”
