Exclusive: Sophie Monk opens up about her endometriosis diagnosis

On Monday afternoon, Sophie Monk's Instagram followers were surprised to see an Instagram Story that showed her lying on a hospital bed with an oxygen mask on her face.

A doctor could be seen leaning over her, saying, "We did find some endometriosis, but not a lot."

"So many women live not knowing they have endometriosis," the 38-year-old star wrote. "If you have annoying cycles you should ask your [doctor]."

Then, in a second post on her Instagram Story, Monk showed off her signature humour by writing, "Only I'd ask to be filmed under! Best sleep I've had in years. @monashivf your staff are angels."

Now, Monk has spoken exclusively to 9Honey Celebrity to reveal exactly what procedure she had done, and how she found out she had endometriosis in the first place.

"The reason I found out I had endometriosis was I went to freeze my eggs at Monash -- I'm just in discussions about it," Monk said this morning over the phone. "[My doctor] suggested -- because I'm in a lot of pain, and I'm in and out of hospital a lot that people don't know about, and no one could find what it was -- he suggested I might have endometriosis, and found it. That's how it came about."

The Love Island Australia host confirmed that she didn't know she had endometriosis until yesterday, shortly before she shared the news on Instagram.

There has also been speculation about the procedure Monk had, which she clarified: "It was a keyhole surgery to check, and then they got rid of it."

Monk's decision to post about the personal health scare wasn't driven by a need to tell everyone what she was going through, but as a reminder to other women who may be experiencing similar symptoms that they should have a proper check-up.

"The reason I posted it is because there's so many women out there that don't know they have it -- you just learn to live with it and think it's normal, and you've got PMT or something. He said 90 per cent of women he does that test on have it."