Courteney Cox, 57, gets real about menopause in new parody of her '80s tampon ad: 'Menopause will eat you alive'

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Courteney Cox gets real about menopause in a new video spoofing her '80s tampon ad. (Photo: Nathan Congleton/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)
Courteney Cox gets real about menopause in a new video spoofing her '80s tampon ad. (Photo: Nathan Congleton/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

In 1985, a 21-year-old Courteney Cox starred in a Tampax commercial, becoming the first person to say "period" on American TV. At 58, the Friends actress is updating that ad with a menopausal twist.

On Sunday Cox posted a parody of her original '80s commercial, which appears alongside modern-day footage that shows her getting candid about menopause, not menstruation.

"Did your life completely change because of menopause?" asks Cox, recreating her original look in a leotard and leg warmers. "Still getting hot flashes? Let me tell it to ya straight."

Cox doesn't mince her words.

"Menopause will change the way you feel about getting older," she says. "Menopause will eat you alive. It's horrible. Nothing else can do that."

Once extolling the virtues of tampons, Cox now makes plain the miseries of menopause.

"Plus, you get the added bonus of drier skin, and getting bald bald patches," she says. "Now that's something."

She ends the spoof with this reminder: "Remember — there is nothing good about menopause. It can actually change the way you feel about getting older."

Cox isn't the only 50-something celebrity who has been speaking out about their hormonal changes of late. Salma Hayek and Paulina Porizkova are among those who have shared their experiences with menopause, while Naomi Watts has launched her own menopause wellness brand after feeling "isolated" when she became menopausal "far too early."

Earlier this year Cox spoke to the Sunday Times about wrapping her head around the thought of soon turning 60, and how she's "learned to embrace" her face as it is after dabbling with fillers.

"There was a time when you go, ‘Oh, I’m changing. I’m looking older.’ And I tried to chase that [youthfulness] for years,” she told the paper. “And I didn’t realize that, oh s***, I’m actually looking really strange with injections and doing stuff to my face that I would never do now.”

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