Reality TV star Brandi Glanville has been extremely candid about the serious issue that left her face disfigured, but she may have been a little too candid in her latest heath update.
Glanville, best known for appearing on Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, has described a difficult stretch of mental and physical health struggles that she says stemmed from ringworm infections that began in late 2024. She previously claimed the ordeal resulted in losing five teeth and spending more than $100,000 on treatment and repairs.
Now 53, she has said it “felt like something was just eating me from the inside,” before noticing what she called “crazy lumps” developing on her face. After initially feeling brushed off and mistaken for someone dealing with complications from cosmetic work, she later learned she was facing an uncommon infection.
She discussed more details about the health scare—and what she believes may have been its sexual origin—during a conversation with AVN Hall of Fame pornstar Lisa Ann on a recent episode of her Brandi Unfiltered podcast.
During the chat, Glanville posed a direct question to Ann: “I have a quick question. Have you heard about sexually transmitted ringworm?” She then added that she thinks she “may have it.”
The former model said she believes the first signs of infection showed up “in my throat,” and that it may have happened during sexual activity with a previous partner—someone she noted also worked in porn.
Ringworm is a fungal infection typically spread through skin-to-skin contact. It often shows up on areas such as the feet, nails, and groin, and can be transmitted during close-contact activities such as wrestling.
Even so, while it can pass between people through close contact, many may not recognize it right away or know what early symptoms look like.
Ann, 54, noted: “It’s one of these things that most people don’t know what to look for.
“We had to train our makeup artists that when a new member of talent would show up, they would have to get naked in a window where there’s good light and they would inspect their body to see if they see any patches because it’s incredibly contagious.”
Glanville went on to say the person she suspects may have passed along the fungus was also part of the adult industry Ann is associated with.
Leaning into her usual oversharing style, she described a pattern in their sex life and said: “He would only, you know, my face because he didn’t want to get me pregnant.”
She added: “He didn’t know that ship had sailed. I’m like, ‘OK, whatever, I’m not going to correct you.’”
According to Glanville, she only recently connected the possibility of sexually transmitted ringworm to the condition that she says significantly changed her appearance.
She told Ann: “[Then] my girlfriend told me about it yesterday. I knew nothing about it.”
That revelation reportedly prompted her to research this form of ringworm more closely, particularly after doctors had apparently ruled out other STDs. What she read online, she suggested, was unsettling.
“They can apparently … burrow in, like, if it’s in your throat,” she said. “If it’s in your throat, they can burrow deep into your ears and all that.”