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Talking about the menopause

— by Alyson Walsh

 

Is it just me, or has the menopause been in the news a lot lately? Last week after disclosing that she’d had her ovaries removed, Angelina Jolie said, ‘I am now in menopause. I will not be able to have any more children and I expect some physical changes.’ Previously on live TV, Whoopi Goldberg announced, ‘I just had a big ole hot flash,’ and, of course, there’s a section on the menopause (written by health and beauty writer and co-author of Your Hormone Doctor Leah Hardy) in my book Style Forever.

Speaking openly about the menopause is a good thing. I know from my own experience, that me and my friends are more inclined to waft ourselves vigorously and declare the onset of a hot flush (we call it flush in the UK) to the world, rather than suffering sweatily in silence. There was a big feature in the Observer at the weekend, sadly not online, but in a separate interview Kim Cattrall said:

‘The menopause was an awakening. People always talk about it as a sort of downturn for women, a negative thing, but I saw it as the start of a new phase, a final chapter. It was: “What shall I do for the next 30 or 40 years, and with whom?”

Are you speaking out about the menopause?

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Style Forever book signing at Duke Street Emporium

  Is it just me, or has the menopause been in the news a lot lately? Last week after disclosing that she’d had her ovaries removed, Angelina Jolie said, ‘I am now in menopause.