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Angelina Jolie -

Due to her high risk of developing cancer, the actress got her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed in 2015. This eventually sent Jolie into early menopause.

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Angelina Jolie -

“Regardless of the hormone replacements I’m taking, I am now in menopause. I will not be able to have any more children, and I expect some physical changes. But I feel at ease with whatever will come, not because I am strong but because this is a part of life. It is nothing to be feared."

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Naomi Watts -

Naomi Watts took to Instagram to share an in-depth post about menopause and aging. The actress admitted that the word menopause used to freak her out, but said that it took her by surprise when she reached her late thirties and was ready to start a family. The post suggested that she experienced early menopause and found little support from friends, family, and even doctors.  "It's oddly like an unwritten code of silence: women should suck it up and cope, because that's how generations passed have done it," she mused. 

Watts continued, "When you spotlight uncomfortable conversations, they get easier. Progress is made. Why has this particular one taken so long?" She encouraged readers to conquer the stigma around menopause and break down the secrecy and shame. "Getting older is a privilege and a time for us to feel proud of our cumulative experiences." 

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Naomi Watts -

The actress has really embraced her role as a vocal advocate for women's health, particularly focusing on menopause. In 2022, she launched Stripes Beauty, a wellness brand dedicated to addressing menopausal challenges. Her upcoming book, 'Dare I Say It: Everything I Wish I'd Known about Menopause,' is set for release in January 2025 featuring Watts’ personal story, including tales of her own experience with menopause — plus conversations with friends and experts. “Women have had to suffer in silence and shame for too long about the changes they undergo during menopause, with little access to information, support or even much of an open conversation,” Watts emphasized in a People interview.

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Oprah Winfrey -

“For two years I didn’t sleep well. Never a full night. No peace. Restlessness and heart palpitations were my steady companions at nightfall. This was back when I was 48 to 50 [...] Until that point in my adult life, I don’t recall one serious conversation with another woman about what to expect.”

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Oprah Winfrey -

“So many women I’ve talked to see menopause as a blessing. I’ve discovered that this is your moment to reinvent yourself after years of focusing on the needs of everyone else.”

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Jane Fonda -

"Forties can be really hard for women because we’re moving into a momentous, tectonic shift, a hormonal shift that for—not all, but many—women, can feel like we’ve lost ourselves and may never get those selves back. Perimenopause it’s called."

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Jane Fonda - "Truth be known, we don’t get those selves back. But the selves we do get back can be better, braver, surer. We care less what others think of us. We tend to be kinder to ourselves. We stress less. We see commonalities between ourselves and others more than differences. We’re more forgiving, less judgmental."

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Gwyneth Paltrow -

“Menopause gets a really bad rap and needs a bit of rebranding. I remember when my mother went through menopause and it was such a big deal, and I think there was grief around it for her and all these emotions."

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Gwyneth Paltrow -

"I don’t think we have in our society a great example of an aspirational menopausal woman."

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Michelle Obama -

“I was experiencing hormone shifts because of infertility, having to take shots and all that. I experienced the night sweats, even in my thirties, and when you think of the other symptoms that come along, just hot flashes, I mean, I had a few before I started taking hormones.”

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Susan Sarandon - "I went through menopause late and uneventfully. A lot of people I knew were on hormone replacement therapy, but I never went down that road."

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Gillian Anderson - “How wonderful would it be if we could get to a place where we are able to have these conversations openly and without shame. Admit, freely, that this is what’s going on. So we don’t feel like we’re going mad or insane or alone in any of the symptoms we are having."

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Gillian 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.”

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Cynthia Nixon -

“There has been no sadness for me because once you hit 50, you’re done. The freedom that comes from no longer being fertile is huge.”

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Viola Davis - “When you talk about menopause, men just die … a slow death.”

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Kim Cattrall -

“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."

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Kim Cattrall - "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."

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Whoopi Goldberg - "All of a sudden I don't mind saying to people, 'You know what? Get out of my life. You're not right for me.’ It's wonderful and liberating."

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Bette Midler -

“I don’t suggest that anyone obsess over menopause or aging. Still, it is true that in this culture, they throw you out when you get older. I see it all the time, especially in my business. At my age, you’re playing somebody’s mother—and there aren’t even a lot of those roles!”

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Rosie O’Donnell -

"I would literally stand naked in the winter on my balcony in December in the middle of the night just to get cool."

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Kate Walsh -

“There is not a lot of conversation or information about this change of life. Women feel panic, fear, and anxiety about it. It is by and large considered haunted, which seems shocking to me.”

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Cheryl Hines -

“I was surprised that this condition affects so many women, and that women often feel like they’re the only ones experiencing it."

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Cheryl Hines -

"When I started learning more about (intercourse) after menopause, it became clear to me that this is affecting millions of women and they’re not alone,” said Hines about painful (intercourse) due to lack of estrogen.

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Wendy Williams - "I feel 100% better than I was a few months ago. I had a storm going in my body, is the best way I can explain it.”

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Wendy Williams - “With the menopause I wasn’t pointing a finger to any particular thing. I was just feeling like ‘All right, well I’m 53 and this is I guess how it’s supposed to be.'"

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Jane Seymour - "In the end I had to weigh up the pros and cons. I knew about the risks, but quality of life was important, too. I clearly needed regular medical help," said the actress about her use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT).

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Jennifer Saunders - "I'm very good at sleeping, but the first time I had a hot sweat it did take me by surprise. I kept wondering what I was sitting on. It felt like I was sitting on a radiator."

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Dawn French - "I found it was a thief of my memory, so I had to write lists to remember stuff—I still do. Physically I found it a challenge—my womb was a mess, so it had to go. But the main thing is you can’t pretend it’s not happening; accept it and, if you need help, go and get it."

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Belinda Carlisle -

“The worst thing for me was the hot flashes, which started in the beginning not being so bad, then it just got to be debilitating, and I would carry a change of clothes in the car,” the singer said. “I would watch my friends go through it and I thought, 'Oh god, I hope I don’t have to suffer like that.'”

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Julie Walters -

“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!’”

Source: (It's Rosy) (People)

See also: Warning signs to look out for if you are over 40

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