Celebrities Like Oprah and Drew Barrymore Have Recently Shared Their Experiences with Menopause

It may feel like a taboo topic, but these celebrities are reducing that stigma.

Reviewed by Dietitian Emily Lachtrupp, M.S., RD

Menopause occurs when one's menstrual period stops and estrogen levels decline, and perimenopause (the time leading up to your last period when estrogen and progesterone levels start changing) usually begins in a person's mid-40s. Some people experience surgical menopause immediately after the gender-affirming or medically-necessary removal of their ovaries, regardless of age. Common symptoms of menopause include hot flashes, mood swings and mental fog, and they last for, on average, seven years.

And while half of the population will experience symptoms of perimenopause and menopause in their lives, the topic is typically not discussed. However, some celebrity women are looking to change the status quo. Here are five celebs who have been open about their menopause experiences.

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Oprah Winfrey

A leading voice in destigmatizing menopause in the media, Oprah Winfrey has been open about her journey, especially in the past year. From her website providing resources and guides with expert opinions to talking about her personal experiences on social media, the talk show host hopes to promote information and advice that she couldn't find while going through menopause.

"My goal in life is to help people live the best life they can," Winfrey said in an Instagram reel posted last month. "When I was going through menopause, there was nowhere to turn. I went from doctor to doctor to doctor, five different doctors, I thought I was dying."

Drew Barrymore

Drew Barrymore has talked about her experiences with perimenopause multiple times, including once alongside Winfrey in "The Menopause Talk" on Oprah Daily. The actor has also discussed her symptoms on her talk show, The Drew Barrymore Show, and she had an open conversation with Gail King on CBS Mornings.

"I realized I was in perimenopause when I started having my period every two weeks," Barrymore admitted in the daytime clip.

Gwyneth Paltrow

The founder of Goop has been sharing her journey with perimenopause and menopause for quite some time, most recently last week on her Instagram story. When a fan asked "How do you deal with menopause?" Gwyneth Paltrow responded with a candid answer: "I can't deal, someone help me and all us ladies, good Lord."

While that's relatable, Paltrow has also given sound advice on Instagram earlier this year to her fans that are facing perimenopause: "My approach to perimenopause is really just to try to have good overall health."

Michelle Obama

In a conversation about reproductive health, menopause and aging on her podcast, The Michelle Obama Podcast, the former First Lady opened up about her own symptoms while in office, one of which was hot flashes.

"I remember having one on Marine One," Michelle Obama recalled in her podcast discussion with gynecologist Sharon Malone. "I'm 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. And I thought, 'Well, this is crazy. I can't, I can't, I can't do this.'"

Related: The #1 Food to Eat for Fewer Hot Flashes

Naomi Watts

Most recently, British actor Naomi Watts talked to Hello! about "finding love and joy after menopause."

"Going through menopause at such a young age was not easy, especially during a time when there was so little information available about it," she said in an interview with the magazine. "Mood swings, night sweats and migraines … I was feeling like I was spiraling out of control."

Watts also noted the lack of information about menopause while she was going through it herself, and she is hoping to defeat this norm by being open about her journey. She started by being her "own best advocate."

"A lot of freedom came in the self-acknowledgement," Watts continued. "I had those voices in the back of my mind reminding me how old women are let out to pasture, but there was a lure to this desire to be authentic, to crawl from behind the invisible wall and just acknowledge for myself something that everyone could have probably guessed."

Up next: 4 Ways to Combat Menopause Weight Gain, According to a Doctor