Last week, Condé Nast announced the shutdown of Self magazine, a women’s health publication that had operated for nearly five decades. The decision marks the end of a publication that had evolved from its print origins into a digital-only platform focused on service journalism about chronic health conditions.
Self was founded in 1979 and transitioned to an online-only format in 2017, according to verified reports. At the time of its closure, the magazine reached more than 20 million people each month through its digital presence.
In a memo to employees, Condé Nast CEO Roger Lynch stated that while Self had played an important role in shaping conversations around health and wellness, shifting audience behaviors meant there was no viable path for the publication to continue in its current form as a digital outlet.
Lynch explained that health and wellness content from Self would be integrated into other Condé Nast brands, including Allure and Glamour, as part of broader operational changes across the company.
The closure is part of a wider set of adjustments at Condé Nast, which also includes winding down Glamour’s publishing operations in Germany, Spain, and Mexico, and ending Wired’s Italy edition. Together, these changes represent a little over 1% of the company’s overall revenue.
Self had earned recognition over the years, including a National Magazine Award and a Webby’s People’s Voice Award, for its contributions to health journalism.
The magazine had become known for its accessible, conversational style of writing about health topics, particularly in recent years as it focused on normalizing life with chronic illness and providing practical, service-oriented journalism.
Readers and advocates within the chronic illness community have described Self as transformative, noting how it shifted away from the problematic weight-loss content typical of women’s magazines in the 2000s and 2010s toward a more progressive vision of health and wellness.
Jaime Seltzer, scientific director of the myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome nonprofit MEAction, highlighted the impact of a 2022 Self article she was interviewed for, which explored the meaning of rest and helped raise awareness around ME/CFS and Long Covid.
Seltzer emphasized that increased awareness of conditions like ME/CFS enables people to seek appropriate clinical care and helps them explain their experiences to friends and family.
Beth Morton, a migraine care advocate, appreciated Self’s non-stigmatizing coverage of migraine, especially articles written by people who live with the condition themselves.
Myisha Malone-King, a chronic illness advocate living with Crohn’s disease, said Self made her feel seen and supported during difficult moments, including when she struggled to get medical care for an ovarian cyst, describing the magazine’s closure as a huge blow.
Vivian Delchamps Wolf, a disabled and chronically ill professor of English at Dominican University of California, valued Self’s ability to capture the social dimensions of chronic illness, citing a piece by former staff writer Katie Camero on navigating friendships when others don’t understand life with chronic illness.
Delchamps Wolf noted that such reporting comes from an authentic space and refuses to present chronic illness as pitiful, stressing the importance of addressing medical racism and systemic barriers that worsen experiences of chronic illness.
She also emphasized that acknowledging chronic illness as a politically, culturally, and socially marginalized category is essential for bringing about substantive change.
Condé Nast has not announced what will happen to Self’s digital presence and archives, and company representatives did not respond to inquiries about whether the site would remain online or face digital oblivion, similar to other folded outlets like Bitch Media.
While some articles from Bitch Media are being republished in outlets like The Flytrap, no such arrangement has been confirmed for Self’s content.
The loss of Self leaves fewer platforms where journalism on chronic illness can be explored with depth, authenticity, and a focus on both medical and social realities.
As of now, there is no confirmed date for when Self’s digital content might be taken offline, nor any official statement about preservation of its archives.
Readers seeking updates on the fate of Self’s digital presence are advised to monitor official communications from Condé Nast.
If you have been affected by the closure of Self or have thoughts on the future of health journalism, we encourage you to share your perspective in the comments and spread this article to help preserve the conversation going.