There are moments in life that split everything into a “before” and an “after.” For Lauren Wasser, that moment came on an ordinary night in October 2012, when a routine product millions of women use every month quietly pushed her body to the edge of death.
Wasser was 24 years old — a California-born model raised in the fashion world, the daughter of two professional models, someone who had first appeared in Vogue at just four months old alongside her mother. She had also turned down a prestigious athletic scholarship to pursue modeling, though she never gave up the sport she loved. Basketball, fitness, and an active lifestyle were all central to who she was.
Then came what she first thought was the flu.
A Silent, Deadly Storm
What began as mild discomfort escalated with terrifying speed. Within hours, Lauren Wasser was in the grip of Toxic Shock Syndrome — a life-threatening condition caused by an overgrowth of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, which releases a powerful toxin into the bloodstream. TSS first gained widespread attention in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when a wave of young women in the United States fell critically ill, with tampon use identified as a significant risk factor.
By the time medical teams understood what they were dealing with, Wasser had already suffered two heart attacks and gone into complete renal failure. Doctors placed her in a medically-induced coma to give her any chance of surviving. Her family was told to prepare for the worst.
She woke up approximately ten days later with no memory of what had happened — her body now carrying 80 extra pounds of fluid that had been pumped into her during the fight to keep her alive. But the crisis was far from over.
Gangrene had spread to her extremities. The tissue in her right leg was beyond saving. Surgeons had no choice but to amputate. Her left foot was also severely affected, and while it was spared initially, the chronic pain it caused proved relentless. In 2018, six years after the original incident, Wasser made the difficult decision to have her left leg amputated as well — a choice she has since described as ultimately freeing, allowing her to live more fully and actively than the years of pain had permitted.
What She Found in the Aftermath
Surviving was only the first battle. The second was deciding who she was going to be now.
Wasser has spoken openly about the anger, grief, and disorientation that followed — not just the physical loss, but the confrontation with a healthcare and consumer product system she felt had failed women. She began researching tampons and found information that disturbed her deeply. Speaking publicly about her findings, she pointed out that many conventional tampons are manufactured using chlorine bleach, dioxin, and synthetic fibers — a combination she argues creates dangerous conditions inside the body under the right circumstances.
She connected with other families who had suffered similar losses, including the mother of Madeline Mosby, a teenager who died from TSS at 18. Together, they channeled their grief into advocacy, pushing for stronger federal regulation of menstrual products and greater transparency in manufacturing.
Wasser has testified and campaigned in support of legislation that would require tampon manufacturers to fully disclose their ingredients — a reform that, advocates argue, is long overdue. Her Instagram platform, where she goes by @theimpossiblemuse, has become a space for raw honesty about disability, beauty standards, and survival.
The Girl With the Golden Legs
When Wasser decided to return to modeling, not everyone believed it was possible. The fashion industry has historically been rigid in its beauty standards, and there was real uncertainty about whether a double amputee could find consistent work on major runways and in major campaigns.
She answered that question definitively.
Rather than choosing prosthetics designed to blend in, Wasser selected gleaming gold-toned legs that announce themselves boldly with every step. The choice was deliberate and profound. “Making it my own and giving it life, so to speak, changed my perception,” she explained. The gold legs became her signature — a statement about owning transformation rather than hiding it — and earned her the nickname that now follows her everywhere: the girl with the golden legs.
The bookings followed. She walked for Gabriela Hearst and Louis Vuitton in 2022. She appeared in campaigns for Lacoste, Furla, and Shiseido. She was named one of Harper’s Bazaar UK’s Women of the Year, featured on a special-edition cover alongside some of the most inspiring figures of the year.
Beyond the fashion credits, she has resumed playing competitive basketball and has spoken about training for a marathon — a goal that would have seemed unimaginable in the darkest days of her recovery.
A Warning Every Woman Should Hear
Lauren Wasser’s story is not just one of personal triumph. It carries an urgent public health message that she works every day to amplify.
Toxic Shock Syndrome, while rare, remains a real risk — one that many women are never adequately warned about. The condition can develop rapidly and escalate to life-threatening severity within hours. Early symptoms often mimic common illnesses like the flu: sudden high fever, low blood pressure, vomiting, diarrhea, a rash resembling sunburn, and muscle aches. Because these signs are so easy to dismiss, many people delay seeking care until the situation becomes critical.
Medical organizations recommend changing tampons every four to eight hours, never sleeping with a tampon in, and choosing the lowest absorbency needed. Any woman experiencing sudden flu-like symptoms while using a tampon should remove it immediately and seek emergency medical attention.
Wasser’s advocacy goes further, pushing for industry-wide reform so that future generations of women have access to products that are safer, more transparent, and held to a higher standard of accountability.
“I’ve worked so hard to be myself and never take ‘no’ for an answer,” she has said of the life she has built from the wreckage of 2012.
It is a life lived loudly, unapologetically, and entirely on her own terms — gold legs and all.