12 Celebrities Who Have Been Candid About Menopause

Naomi Watts

“At age 43, I went into perimenopause,” the actress told us. “But I still did not know what that term ‘perimenopause’ actually meant at the time. There’s no one test, because if you do a blood panel and read your hormones, they could read one way on one day and completely different the next day. It’s really not a perfect indicator. All the things were happening, but I only knew of maybe one or two symptoms.”

“I was really out there on my own. Yes, I tested the waters with friends: I made jokes about menopause and hormone-estrogen dips and things like that, and they were always met with nervous laughter, which worked out in my brain as, ‘Well, no one must be experiencing the same things as I am, yet.’ I knew about the classic symptoms, like hot flashes and night sweats, but I was having multiple night sweats and no one seemed to want to talk about it—you can actually have night sweats while breastfeeding.

Of course, when I say you have, I don’t mean everyone. It doesn’t manifest for everyone in the same way. I also started having chronic migraines. I had itchy skin and a multitude of symptoms. I quickly dealt with it because I was very in touch with my body, so I made sure I got the right kind of treatment.”

Watts also shared the inspiration for her menopause-centric skin-care brand Stripes. “I didn’t want to have to walk through that feeling again, of being completely alone and shrouded in secrecy and shame, nor should anyone feel like that. It just a terrible feeling, and wherever there’s stigma, it should be broken down because you need a supportive network. You need a team, whether it’s your family or hopefully doctors, to provide you with that care that you need, or you’re going to think that you’re losing yourself.

You’re definitely thinking you’re losing your mind as you go through those ups and downs. It was chaos. As soon as you understand it better and have the knowledge on the table, you can be your best advocate. You are always your best advocate.”

Halle Berry

“I thought I was in menopause, and then all of a sudden my period came and I was like uh-oh. Then I had to go all the way back to the beginning and I was like, ‘I’ve got a year longer?!” the actress said on Good Morning America. “The lack of sleep is really real—what [menopause] does to the brain. I have flooded my laundry room three times because I go in there and then I forget why I went in there. I turn the water on, heat up the dog food, get busy and then there’s three feet of water in my laundry room. I would have never done that before this stage of life. The brain fog is real.”

Berry says she’s also experienced symptoms like hot flashes, speedy heart rate and anxiety. “So much so that people said I needed to be on medication for it. Then I felt really depressed….but it’s not depression…it’s a phase we’re in. It’s a normal stage of life. It’s not a disease.”

Gwyneth Paltrow

“I’m glad that there is a big change in the culture and women are talking about this now,” the actress and goop Beauty founder told PEOPLE. “Because in my mother’s generation that was not the case whatsoever. I’m really in the thick of perimenopause, so it’s quite a roller coaster and my best advice is that every woman really needs to contemplate what is the right way for her. For me, I’ve been really trying to focus on having a very well-functioning gut and liver so that these excess hormones can be flushed out of the body and cause less symptoms.

There are a lot of great options available, whether it’s HRT or different supplements, but I’m just glad everybody’s talking about it because it used to be so full of shame and it’s just another chapter for us. It’s nothing to be hidden. I think it’s great, and I’m so happy that there’s a community now.”

Tracee Ellis Ross

On the We Can Do Hard Things With Glennon Doyle podcast, the actress spoke about being child-free and in perimenopause. “I can feel my body’s ability to make a child draining out of me. Sometimes I find it hilarious, as if there is a fire sale going on in my uterus, and someone’s in there screaming, ‘All things must go.’ As my body becomes a foreign place to me that doesn’t really feel safe or like home…I don’t know how to manage or control or fight the external binary narrative of the patriarchy that has hunted me and haunted me most of my adult life.”

Drew Barrymore

“I thought I’d go through this for three to four years, but when I learned it was a potential 10-year window, that really changed everything for me,” said the actress on Oprah’s “The Menopause Talk” on Oprah Daily. “I just thought, that was no way to live for that long. Be your own advocate. I hope there is a societal shift in perception and tone. We’re women, we provide life and we matter. We don’t have to go through things alone. We can talk about it with people and our friends, and not suffer silently. I’m going to do, what I do with everything in life, and not stay stuck.”

Viola Davis

“When you talk about anything, especially dealing with menopause or breasts, men just die a slow death,” the actress joked on Jimmy Kimmel Live! When Kimmel asked Davis what menopause is, she replied, “You know what, menopause is hell. Menopause is a dark hole, and that’s where I’m at right now. I either will love my husband today or kill him today.” Kimmel also asked Davis how long menopause lasts, and she said, “You know what, somebody needs to tell me because it’s lasted now for about six or seven years.”

Michelle Obama

On her podcast, the former First Lady spoke about hot flashes. “I experienced night sweats even in my 30s…I had a few [night flashes] before I started taking hormones. I remember having one on Marine One. I am dressed, I need to get out, walk into an event, and literally, it was like somebody put a furnace in my core and turned it on high. And then everything started melting. I thought, ‘This is crazy. I can’t do this.’

Barack was surrounded by many women in his cabinet going through menopause. He could see it in somebody because sweat would start pouring. He didn’t fall apart because he found out. It was just sort of like, turn the air conditioner on.”

Maria Shriver

“We also have to include perimenopause in the whole menopause umbrella,” she said on Hoda & Jenna. “A lot of people are questioning their health and there’s much more of a focus on women’s health now. There are also more women doctors opening up and talking about it. There’s been a huge shift when we talk about hormones and menopause. My generation was told, ‘Don’t touch a hormone.’ Now women are told about a window when they can and should take a hormone if it’s good for them. It’s an exciting time. We’re going to get more federal funding and focus on women’s heath, particularly at midlife. Women deserve to be seen, they deserve to be heard, and they deserve to be cared for, and millions don’t feel that way.”

Niecy Nash

At an event in New York City for menopause platform Versalie, the Dahmer actress said, “Fast-forward to when I experienced my first hot flash, I thought that was all there was to menopause because no one was talking about it. I was so happy to find Versalie and go on the site, which is curated for women like me. I love that you can speak to experts; I love the storefront where you can shop for products to help you. All of it spoke to me and I thought ‘well, I want to help get the word out.’”

Paulina Porizkova

“Staying in shape after menopause takes a lot of frickin’ work,” the supermodel wrote on Instagram. “Especially when you have wonky hips. I’ve had to cut down on my Pilates since I came back for the jungle shooting #beyondtheedge because my hips won’t cooperate. What I’m doing instead, for now, is some serious PT. I found an amazing personal trainer at my local Crunch, Shelly, who alternates hip PT with strength training. But because I’ve been doing so much traveling, my results are inconsistent.

So, yes, there are drawbacks to aging. One has to work a lot harder on things that were taken for granted. On the outside. On the inside, however, all the hard work already done is finally paying off.
I may not be as strong or as supple or as smooth as in my youth, but I am comfortable with my vulnerabilities, conscious of my weaknesses, proud of my strengths—and best of all, have the wisdom to put it all together and delight in the results.”

Oprah Winfrey

“The menopause train is coming, no matter what,” said the TV host and actress during her “Menopause Talk” conversation on Oprah Daily. “I started at 48 with heart palpitations. I went from doctor to doctor—literally five different doctors. At one point, a female doctor had given me an angiogram and put me on heart medication, and had never once mentioned that it could be menopause or perimenopause. I just happened to be in the office one day and opened a book and saw heart palpitations were a symptom of perimenopause. I remember going through a period where I just felt like, whatever, whatever, whatever. I could not concentrate reading, which is my favorite thing to do—my love. I couldn’t focus long enough. When I went and got my first click of estrogen, I was like, the sky is bluer.”

Shania Twain

“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,” the Canadian singer told the New York Post. “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.”