Real Housewives Star Tamra Barney: Why I Removed My Breast Implants

She tells Dr. Oz a cervical cancer scare and needing "to take over my body" led her to get the surgery she'd been wanting for years

Real Housewives of Orange County star Tamra Barney opted to get her breast implants removed, but it wasn't merely a cosmetic decision.

"When I say there were many reasons why I removed my implants I mean it," she wrote on her Facebook page Monday. "For the past 5 years I wanted to remove them but I did not have the confidence or courage to do it."

She also told Dr. Oz on an episode of The Dr. Oz Show (as excerpted by People) that a bout with cervical cancer left her needing "to take over my body."

"Feeling lumps in your breast that need to be biopsied is scary and made me wonder if my implants would make it harder to detect breast cancer… and why take the chance?" she mused on her Facebook page. "Removing my implants was a way of me taking back control of MY body physically and mentally."

And she couldn't be happier with her decision. "The best part of being in my 40's is that I started to feel more secure with my self and accepting of my body," she added. "I now work hard to keep my self healthy with diet and exercise. I love the way I look without my implants and do NOT miss them at all."