Meet Lauren Wasser: The 'Girl with Golden Legs' who lost both her limbs due to a tampon

Met Gala 2026 served numerous trend-setting and record-making looks. From Emma Chamberlain's gown inspired by Vincent Van Gogh's paintings to Isha Ambani's steel mango, many occurrences became talking points. While numerous personalities showed up at the red carpet with made-up accessories, one woman went viral for golden legs that were real.

On May 4, model Lauren Wasser arrived at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City wearing a gold Prabal Gurung suit. She went braless under an open blazer and donned matching knee-length shorts. She accessorised the look with a matching bandana wrapped around her platinum blonde hair, long silver necklaces, chunky rings and a wrist watch. But what truly caught the eye was her signature gold prosthetic legs, which earned her the nickname "the girl with the golden legs."

Who is Lauren Wasser?

Lauren Wasser is best known for her modelling career. The 38-year-old has posed for covers including Vogue, Glamour and Harper's Bazaar. She has also walked the runway shows for Chromat and Louis Vuitton. In 2017, she was named a Forbes 30 Under 30 recipient and in 2023, she became Glamour Germany Woman of the Year.

A tampon use and lost legs

Speaking on The Diary of a CEO podcast in 2023, Wasser shared: "I was on my period. It was super heavy. I guess I must have passed out. They found me face down on my bedroom floor. I was 10 minutes from death."

Soon, her organs began to fail and she had to be put in an induced coma. Reportedly, healthcare professionals told her parents that she had just one per cent chance of survival.

"My feet were turning black so when I finally woke up they needed to amputate my right leg or I was going to die. They're telling me that we cannot give you any pain medication. I felt every single thing that was done to me," she said.

This was in 2012, when Wasser contracted something known as Toxic Shock Syndrome. TSS is a rare but life-threatening disease caused by toxins produced by a certain type of bacteria.

As modern women living in the throes of capitalism, most believe that factory-made products are of the best quality and can be trusted blindly. However, what many forget is that these products are made in conditions that are not always pristine and ideal. TSS, is associated with the prolonged use of a tampon for more than four to eight hours, as per Mayo Clinic.

“It was the darkest moment of my life,” Wasser once told Vestal magazine of the experience. “I couldn’t believe it happened and happened so fast. My life changed forever within a few minutes and the damage done was already irreversible. The recovery seemed like it was impossible.”

She added that she was "stripped of everything I knew" and experienced hair loss and weight gain due to her body being "flushed" with fluids to "get all of the toxins out."

Wasser initially had to have her right leg amputated as a result of complications with the syndrome. Later in 2018, she had her left leg amputated due to lasting damage. “I had no right leg and my left foot was a huge painful question,” she recalled. “I was in a wheelchair for a long eight months. I would cry in the shower screaming at God every single day. I was so angry, and I didn’t see a future. In my mind, it was over. I really believed I would never be accepted by the modelling world or by anyone.”

It was her faith in god and her desire to continue living for her younger brother, who was 14 years old at the time that helped her "hold on."

What is toxic shock syndrome?

As per the Cleveland Clinic, while TSS is associated with tampon use, it can happen to anyone. Menstrual cups, birth control sponges or diaphragms and skin wounds can also cause it. Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, better known as staph bacteria, are often the ones responsible for toxic shock syndrome. It causes toxins to spread into your bloodstream causing severe organ damage or death.

Symptoms of the syndrome include:

• Low blood pressure
• Dizziness, lightheadedness or fainting
• Watery diarrhea
• Sudden high fever, chills, body aches and other flu-like symptoms
• Nausea or vomiting
• Peeling of the skin on the soles of your feet or palms of your hands
• Redness in your eyes and throat
• Rash resembling a bad sunburn or red dots on your skin

The Robin Danielson Act

After her life-changing experience with TSS, Wasser became an advocate for the Robin Danielson Menstrual Product and Intimate Care Product Safety Act. It is a proposed US bill aimed at directing the National Institute of Health (NIH) to research the health risks of chemicals and synthetic fibres often found in menstrual products.