Actress Rumer Willis says she was missing her ovulation window every month before she began using an at-home hormone monitor. Willis, who gave birth to her daughter in 2023, turned to the fertility tracking device Mira to better understand her reproductive health after years on hormonal birth control. The Mira system measures hormone concentrations in urine.
"I realized through using Mira that when I was ovulating, according to the algorithms, that I was actually much later, and that if I had been actively trying to conceive, I would have been missing it every month," Willis told Healthline.
Willis said she had always assumed her cycle was generally regular. Watching people around her struggle with infertility pushed her to learn more. "I always had this fear, what if that happens to me? And so I wanted to be overly prepared. I wanted to understand what was going on," she said.
The monitor also gave her an early clue that she was pregnant before she took a formal test. Her progesterone levels came back unusually high at a point when she expected her period within days. "My progesterone was through the roof, and I was supposed to be getting my period in a couple days," Willis said.
Kecia Gaither, MD, who is double board certified in OB/GYN and maternal fetal medicine, told Healthline that at-home hormone tests, including urine LH ovulation strips and progesterone metabolite tests, can provide pattern data that may prompt earlier evaluation and confirm whether a woman is ovulating. "This is helpful if intercourse timing is needed when trying to conceive," Gaither said. She recommends that women who use these tools pair the results with a cycle log tracking start date, flow patterns, and symptoms, and then share that data with a health provider.
For women with irregular cycles, Gaither recommends avoiding rapid weight changes, getting adequate caloric intake, engaging in moderate rather than excessive exercise, and practicing stress reduction. For those actively trying to conceive with irregular periods, she recommends having intercourse every two to three days throughout the cycle.
"Other options your health provider may discuss include ovulation induction, treatment of any thyroid issues, and lifestyle alterations/interventions that restore ovulation," Gaither said.
Willis said becoming a mother pushed her advocacy for women's reproductive health further than it had been before. "Once I got pregnant and felt like I was kind of shoved headfirst into this world… there was so much more…that I hadn't even scratched the surface," she said. She said she wants to help other women access the kind of information and care she has been able to find.
