If this crop of celebrities is any indication, 50+ is the new fabulous—and they’re using their platform to sweep perimenopause and menopause out from under the rug and into the spotlight. Learn more about seven celebrities leading the way in this list of celebs who are talking about menopause.
Gwyneth Paltrow
Leave it to the person who popularized the phrase “conscious uncoupling” to rebrand menopause. “I think menopause gets a really bad rap and needs a bit of a rebranding,” Paltrow stated in an Instagram video in 2018. “I don’t think we have in our society a great example of an aspirational menopausal woman.” The Goop founder has positioned herself to become just that by getting real about the perimenopausal symptoms she’s experienced—from mood swings to hot flashes—and launching the Madame Ovary supplement regimen designed to help women over 40 better weather hormonal changes.
Michelle Obama
From attorney to America’s first Black First Lady, Michelle Obama has embraced who she’s been “Becoming” every step of the way—and that includes entering the age of menopause. In August 2020, Obama sat down for a candid conversation with gynecologist Dr. Sharon Malone about women’s health and what to expect during menopause. (Oh, and that time she had a hot flash aboard Marine One.) “The changes, the highs and lows, and the hormonal shifts, there is power in that,” Obama said on her eponymous podcast. “But we were taught to be ashamed of it and to not even seek to understand it or explore it for our own edification, let alone to help the next generation.” And that’s what Obama is squarely focused on—normalizing these conversations to benefit her two daughters and many other women around the world.
Cheryl Hines
Painfully awkward conversations are nothing new for Cheryl Hines. After all, she starred on and directed Larry David’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” But Hines signed on for “Painfully Awkward Conversations” of another kind when she joined forces with AMAG Pharmaceuticals in 2018 for an awareness campaign around vulvar and vaginal atrophy (VVA)—which affects half of all post-menopausal women in the U.S. Her goal? To help women feel less alone and “take away the shroud of secrecy that is often associated with painful sex due to menopause.”
Taraji P. Henson
In an interview with Self, the “Empire” star and Oscar nominee openly credited therapy with helping her navigate stardom, the pressure to be a “strong Black woman,” and the mood swings accompanying perimenopause. She admitted to experiencing days where she felt “really, really low” and didn’t want to get out of bed. “I was just starting to feel heavy a lot, [like] suffocating…. It just came out of nowhere,” Henson told the magazine. But Henson has channeled her struggles into helping others—acting as an advocate for Black mental wellness and celebrating the milestones that come with age. In September 2020, she proudly posted bikini photos and celebrated her 50th birthday with friends in Cabo San Lucas. “It’s supposed to be over for me…but here I am,” declared Henson to W Magazine.
Stacy London
Best known for “What Not to Wear,” Stacy London had been experiencing menopausal symptoms for years before she connected the dots. In an interview with InStyle, London shared that she’d struggled with insomnia, anxiety, brain fog, and other hormonal changes for four years, but it wasn’t until she was asked to beta test State Of personal care products (specifically made for those in menopause) that her epiphany came. London loved the products—and the mission—so much that she signed on as CEO. The tagline? “This isn’t your mother’s menopause brand, because she didn’t have one.”
Cynthia Nixon
Cynthia Nixon is ready to reprise her “Sex and the City” role of Miranda on “And Just Like That,” and true to form, she’s outspoken as ever. In 2017, she talked openly about the experience of going through menopause alongside her real-life wife Christine Marinoni—and the actress brought a refreshing take. ‘There has been no sadness for me, because once you hit 50, you’re ‘done,’” Nixon told Stella Magazine. “The freedom that comes from no longer being fertile is huge.”
Gillian Anderson
Fittingly, Gillian Anderson’s description of perimenopause sounds like it could be straight out of an episode of “The X-Files: “I felt like somebody else had taken over my brain,” Anderson told journalist Jennifer Nadelin 2017 of the overwhelm, anxiety, and depression she experienced in recent years. She praised Angelina Jolie for helping to “shake the shame” around early menopause and encouraged others in the public eye to do the same. “How wonderful would it be if we could get to a place where we are able to have these conversations openly and without shame….” said Anderson. “Perimenopause and menopause should be treated as the rites of passage that they are. If not celebrated, then at least accepted and acknowledged and honored.” Next up, check out these 33 podcasts, Instagram accounts and books about menopause.
