Menopause is becoming more and more talked about in media, as it should be!
This happens to all women and it should be something everyone can talk about.
It shouldn’t be considered taboo and although it usually affects women around 45-55, some women under 40 can go through premature menopause.
Without many resources on how to handle it or only knowing that it’s ‘horrible’, it can be pretty scary to go into essentially blind.
Even just celebrities being open about it can help women adjust and make them feel less alone.
These famous women have opened up about going through menopause:
Naomi Watts
Naomi Watts is not afraid to be candid about her menopause experience as she’s definitely had to endure stereotypes being placed upon her.
Her agent told her, “You better get going, you better put your pedal to the metal – work, work, work, because you’ve only got until you’re 40.”
It didn’t end there because when she asked why he replied, “Because well, you know, you become unf***able and you can’t play a leading lady.”
Naomi was only 36 years old when she started tests and realised she was close to menopause.
She referred to the lead-up to menopause as a ‘rollercoaster’ which is usually the time of perimenopause.
Watts was in a new relationship with her now husband and revealed that if it wasn’t for her communication with him, things wouldn’t have turned out the same.
“The more people understand that, the more we normalise and open this conversation up and just get used to it, the better,” Naomi said.
“I think it’s time to see women in this phase of life or this age group be well represented. We’ve been under-served in media, stories and marketing far too long. Particularly since more than 1 billion people worldwide will be menopausal by 2025.”
“Getting older is a privilege and a time for us to feel proud of our cumulative experiences — to feel empowered, unapologetically so. I think being part of a change-maker generation is exciting. No more walking through this alone.”
Shania Twain
Just after Shania’s 50th birthday, she opened up about her menopause and how it was changing a lot about her.
“I think menopause was a very good thing for me because there were a lot more things changing in everything about me physically that I had to very quickly come to terms with.”
“Menopause taught me to quickly say, ‘You know, it may only get worse. So just love yourself now. Just get over your insecurities — they’re standing in your way. And fear is standing in your way.’ I always sing about being fearless and all of that. I go there when I write. But I’m not living it the way I’m writing it. And I want to live the way I write. I’m more fierce than I ever was because I really demanded it about myself.”
Sophie Countess of Wessex
The countess shared that going through menopause was like the end and how it should be celebrated.
“Women having to leave the workplace because of the menopause is tragic. We are fabulous in our 40s, and we are even more fabulous in our 50s, 60s and 70s and we need to celebrate that and keep opportunities going for women.”
“Together, we can support the thousands of women out there who form the backbone of our workforce. We cannot let anyone leave the workplace, feeling that they have got to slope off into the shadows. We have to be able to change that.”
“Really we should be celebrating the fact that we don’t have to have periods anymore — it should be a liberation, but it feels like a shackle. It’s described as something incredibly negative … I think it’s time to say ‘Enough, we need to bring this out onto the table and say, let’s talk about this.’ “
Kim Cattrall
Kim Cattrall spent time portraying menopause on Sex and The City but in 2014 she revealed her own experience to Cosmopolitan.
“I don’t think it’s shameful. It’s as natural as having a child — it really is; it’s part of life. Physically, it’s part of how we’re made; hormonally, it’s how we’re constructed; chemically, it’s how we work.”
“Like anything in nature: The seed is planted, it grows, it comes to fruition, after a period of time it starts to change and age, and it’s scary. You wonder, Will I be attractive, desirable, feminine? What is next chapter of life?”
“I think it’s one of the reasons why it’s so taboo is because we don’t talk about it — it’s too frightening even to talk to a doctor about it. I want to reach out to women to encourage them to educate themselves about this time in their lives.”
Julie Walters
Julie Walters revealed her struggles with menopause, making sure women feel acknowledged when they do have trouble with their symptoms.
She explained to SAGA, “Oh God! It was like a chimney and came from the base of my spine. I was doing this TV show called Murder, and every take there’d be, ‘Stop! She’s having a flush!’ At the National, I’d come off stage for a quick change and have to shout, ‘Garth, the tray!’ And this guy would come with this big tin tray and fan me. Harry Potter, I was in a wig and padding, and they had to put this big tube of air conditioning in my face!”
Salma Hayek
Salma Hayek went on Red Table Talk to talk about how difficult it was going to the doctor for testing and menopause symptoms.
“[The doctor was] asking me things like, ‘Are your ears growing and there’s hair growing out of them? Are you growing a moustache and a beard? Are you easily irritable? Are you crying for no reason? Are you gaining a lot of weight really fast that doesn’t go away no matter what you do? Are you shrinking?’ And then they ask you, ‘Is your vagina dry?'”
She revealed how this made her uncomfortable and how certain symptoms she tried to ignore and say “It’ll pass”.
She revealed how menopause had been described as the end of being a woman, “There’s no expiration dates for women. That has to go. Because you can kick ass at any age.”
” We’re not just here to make babies, we’re not just here to baby the man. We’re not just here to service everything and everyone around us and then when the kids go away … it’s almost like expiration date for you as a woman. It’s a misunderstanding that has been going around for centuries.”
