Reality royalty Brandi Glanville has opened up about her facial parasite in a new interview, revealing she’s spent over $113,000 to treat the mystery condition to no avail. Doctors believe Glanville has a parasite moving around her face and body but have still not been able to formally diagnose her.
‘I’m out of funds. I’m out over six figures at this point,’ Glanville told Us Weekly. ‘I don’t have the means to go anywhere at this point. I’m online every day, going down a different rabbit hole. It’s exhausting. It’s all-consuming. I just wanna find a doctor who makes it, like, his mission to help me.’
Glanville was diagnosed with a facial parasite in December 2024, although doctors are still stumped at how to treat it. The former star of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills posted pictures of her face seemingly disfigured on X last year, showing painful lumps that moved around. More recently, Glanville says the parasite has extended down her body and has causing acidic liquid to ‘eat away’ at her teeth.
She’s undergone CAT scans, MRIs and ultrasounds, but Glanville says no doctors have been able to determine ‘whatever is living in my face’. ‘It’s moving down my body, like, literally in my neck now moving on my left shoulder [and] down my arm,’ she said. ‘I have to get up, I have to stretch, I have to get in a hot tub. I have a routine, and it sucks.’
The parasite is also causing ‘constant oily foul-tasting drainage’ to seep into her mouth and Glanville says that the ‘acidic’ liquid is now ‘eating away’ at her teeth too. Having spent so much seeking a diagnosis and treatment plan, Glanville now says she’s at her ‘wits end.’
‘And not just me, [but] these other poor women who have been going through this for so long, and men, too. I’ve had a couple men reach out. I feel for them, like, I know exactly what they’re talking about and the pressure in their head, how they feel it’s gonna explode. … I’m at my wits’ end.’
Last year, Glanville claimed that her changed appearance came as a result of stress from working on the Real Housewives spin-off ‘Ultimate Girls Trip’, evening threatening to sue Bravo at one point. Glanville has not yet filed legal action and Bravo have not responded to her claims.
Glanville first appeared on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills in 2011, starring on the show for five years before taking a three-year break and then returning from 2019-2020. In 2022, she joined the Ultimate Girls Trip spin-off with fellow Beverly Hills co-star Taylor Armstrong. The spin-off has been so dramatic for Glanville it has caused her ‘extreme stress’, according to Entertainment Tonight.
Part of the filming for Ultimate Girls Trip was in Morocco, where Glanville believes she contracted the parasite. On her podcast, Brandi Glanville Unfiltered, she said she’s all of her face fillers dissolved to try and better understand her facial disfigurement, as well as CellSound treatment (therapeutic sound waves).
‘I'm sick of hearing myself complain. I'm sick of everything. I'm sick of the way I look. I'm sick of, like, just hiding out in my house,’ she continued, adding that an unnamed friend had recently told her to ‘get over’ her health condition and stop talking about it. ‘F— you,’ she said in response. ‘I would love to. Do you think I wanna complain? Like, don't call me. This is my story right now.’
I'm sick of hiding in my house.
Outside of reality TV, Glanville is best known for being a model. In 2001, she married actor Eddie Cibrian, going on to have two sons, Mason and Jake. The couple separated in 2009 after Cibrian had an affair with country music singer LeAnne Rimes, whom he went on to marry.
"Marriages break up all the time,’ Glanville said of her divorce in 2013. ‘People have affairs. Happens every day. It matters how you handle yourself after and if you're actually remorseful. I've never found LeAnn to be remorseful. I found her to be like, “Nah-nah-nah-nah-nah, I got your family”’
Some years later, however, Glanville and Rimes have clearly made amends, with Glanville referring to the pair as ‘sister wives’. "I think we both grew up quite a bit,’ Glanville said in 2018. ‘And we both love Eddie's parents. We both love the kids, and Eddie's going to be in my life for the rest of my life. [...] We're like sister wives. It's me and LeAnn and Eddie.’
Now, Glanville just hopes she can find a way to move forward and treat her facial condition.