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Famous Faces of Menopause

Rejoice in five famous faces of menopause and discover how these women handled this "dreaded" stage in uplifting ways.

Published February 8, 2012
Written by Amy Boulanger
Woman in a rage

Celebrities and Menopause

Hot flashes, mood swings, night sweats. If you haven’t been through menopause, the laundry list of symptoms can be enough to fill most females (at any age) with dread. Every female eventually faces menopause, even the famous ones. Discover how celebrities have experienced this transition and learn how they’ve tackled it in their own ways. 

Jane Seymour posing

Jane Seymour

Actress Jane Seymour, voted one ofthe world’s sexiest women (in her 50s) found a formidable foe in menopause. The yoga-practicing, disciplined dieter, familiar with grueling hours on set, decided she needed “a back-up plan.” For Jane, that was the controversial HRT (hormone replacement therapy), associated with increased risk of breast cancer, stroke, and blood clots. She told The Daily Mail, “I concluded that because I was not at high risk of any of the diseases associated with HRT, I decided to take it—but on my terms." 

Whoopi Goldberg posing

Whoopi Goldberg

Established actress. Outspoken comedian. We recognize Whoopi as a woman who’s not afraid to speak her mind. When menopause came around, Whoopi remained her candid self:  "My sex drive has totally changed. One minute I'm like, 'Yeah! I can't wait for it.' The next I'm saying, 'Oh god, go away.'” Even for Whoopi, menopause came as a shock. However, she also found it liberating, as it pushed her to take a look at the negative people in her life and cut them loose.  

Rosie O’Donnell posing

Rosie O’Donnell

The talk-show host has never shied away from saying what’s on her mind. From her Tom Cruise crush to sparring onThe View, Rosie rarely keeps things inside. So why should menopause keep her quiet? Night sweats, hormone issues (with pal Madonna offering big-sisterly advice), excessive sweating. As a guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show Rosie sported her “menopause haircut:” nearly bald at the nape of the neck, covered over with longer hair. Take that, hot flashes! 

Kim Cattrall posing

Samantha Jones, Sex and the City

Four glamorous New York girls balanced colorful cocktails, killer shoes, and relationships in the Sex and the City TV series and movies. But menopause? Yes, even these fabulous ladies had to deal with the M-word at some point. Samantha Jones (played by Kim Cattrall), the powerful PR publicist, tackles menopause in Sex and the City 2. Armed with an arsenal of age-defying methods, Jones announces, "I am leading the way through the menopause maze with my vitamins, my melatonin sleep patches, my bio-identical estrogen cream, progesterone cream, a touch of testosterone." 

Susan Sarandon posing

Susan Sarandon

At the opposite end of the spectrum, Susan Sarandon accepts menopause for what it is. Unlike the age-conscious character of Samantha Jones, Sarandon believes in aging gracefully. For her, menopause (at age 54) arrived “uneventfully”—a period unmarked by major menopausal symptoms and free from creams or surgeries. In addition to good diet, exercise, and stress management, Sarandon embraced menopause and the years following by “being healthy. Beauty comes from inside—it has to do with what you take in.” Smart lady. 

Women hugging

Coping with Menopause

Menopause marks the end of menstruation and fertility. For some women, this phase of life appears uneventfully; for others, menopause symptoms can seem unbearable. Fortunately, there are various options for treating the symptoms of menopause, from lifestyle adjustments to alternative methods.  Every woman will experience menopause. But each woman is unique in how she will experience it. Just like the celebrities here, your attitude about menopause and how it affects you will determine which approaches are best for you.

 

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