Jenny McCarthy defends keeping breast implants after mold poisoning - USA Today

Jenny McCarthy is responding to criticism over her refusal to remove her breast implants following her intense battle with mold and mycotoxin poisoning.

After recently opening up about the brutal two-year health struggle, the "Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg Show" podcast host, 53, defended her decision while discussing the possible dangers of breast implants in the Nov. 3 episode.

"People have written to me and said like, 'Hey, with all this illness you’re going through, maybe there’s mold around your boobs,'" she told Dr. Terry Dubrow, the famed plastic surgeon she has seen for implants, breast reductions and a breast lift since the early 2000s. "Is that something I have to worry about if I have mold illness?"

Dubrow, who previously explained that the immune system can reject a breast implant even if the patient is healthy, told McCarthy the answer was no. He said he's never seen it in all his years as a professional, including on his show "Botched," where he tackles "the worst of the worst" cases.

Relieved by Dubrow's response, McCarthy said she has no plans to lose her implants. She addressed criticism she's received for getting implants despite being "toxic-phobic," to which she replied, ""Yeah, touché. You are correct."

"That is one thing that I — maybe someday, when I’m an old lady — will want to be a free bird. But in this time of having to be in these dresses and stuff like that, I went down dramatically, much smaller than I used to be. But I am not ready," she said. "I’m just not there yet."

In an Oct. 28 episode of her podcast, McCarthy explained that what "started with a freaking toothache" turned into an "insane" two-year struggle with mold and mycotoxin poisoning.

In October 2024, the "Masked Singer" judge sought treatment for a persistent toothache that did not respond to painkillers. Dentists eventually referred her to an endodontist for oral surgery, but she said the procedure failed to resolve the problem as her dental issues worsened.

"Somehow that led me down a rabbit hole of doctors, surgeries, teeth being pulled, mysterious growths popping up in places you are not expecting, implants literally falling out, and eventually realizing my immune system was fighting something so much bigger," she said. "At one point, you know, I was just so desperate to heal that I literally was living in a tent. That’s right, living in a tent!"

Eventually, she developed chalazions, cyst-like bumps that grow on the eyelids, and a doctor warned her she could be facing "a cancer issue."

Following medical fatigue from what she said felt like thousands of surgeries, she was finally given a proper diagnosis in December 2025.

"I get on the phone with her and she says, 'Jenny, you’ve got serious mold. You’ve got the type of mold that causes seizures. If this thing crosses the blood-brain barrier, I’m going to be talking to you in hospital. You’re going to start seizing. We’ve got to get on this immediately,'" she said.

Her many infections were the result of mold and mycotoxin poisoning that attacked her immune system, she said, adding that the lack of a proper diagnosis made her feel "like a freaking paranoid schizophrenic." Even as she has recovered, she still feels like "a little bit crazy and like the walls are caving in."

"I thought everything was poisoning me at this point, because look at me, I was a freaking hot mess, okay?" McCarthy said.