5 Celebs Who Have Fought Back Against Menopause Misconceptions

Every person with ovaries will, at some point, go through menopause. Whether it happens in their 20s due to the surgical removal of the ovaries for health-related issues, like endometriosis, or in their 50s or 60s as part of the progression of time, menopause — like death and taxes — can't be escaped. But while people with ovaries make up almost half (49.6%) of the world population, the misconceptions surrounding both perimenopause and menopause are still rampant.

According to a 2013 study published in Menopause, only one in five gynecology residents receives training in menopause. While the study's participants accounted for only a portion of the OB/GYN residents across the U.S., it says so much about how menopause is, in some curriculums, pretty much ignored. "It's clear from the results that the residents who responded admit that their knowledge and clinical management skills of menopause medicine are inadequate," the study's lead author, Mindy S. Christianson, told John Hopkins Magazine.

With such a lack of menopause education happening in OB/GYN programs, how can we expect anyone to be knowledgeable about menopause and all it encompasses? Simply, we can't. In fact, a 2023 study of postmenopausal women published in Post Reproductive Health found that 94.1% of women had never learned about menopause, and 49% felt completely uninformed on the subject. Because there's such a glaring gap in understanding menopause across the board, some celebrities have stepped up to the plate to share their menopause journeys so others can learn from their experiences.

Halle Berry's realization that she was going through menopause is a perfect example of how the medical community fails people with ovaries. In March 2024, Berry attended "A Day of Unreasonable Conversation," alongside Dr. Jill Biden, to discuss women's health issues. Berry shared how she felt like she had razor blades in her vagina, so she went to see her doctor who diagnosed her as having herpes. However, Berry didn't have herpes.

"I realize after the fact, that is a symptom of perimenopause," Berry said at the event, per WWD. "My doctor had no knowledge and didn't prepare me. That's when I knew, 'Oh my gosh, I've got to use my platform... and I have to start making a change and a difference for other women.'" Dealing with dryness during sex is a common symptom of menopause, and vaginal dryness affects 34% of women between the ages of 57 and 69, according to a 2019 study published in Menopause.

As Berry told Glamour in December 2024, not only was she misdiagnosed, but she'd been going through perimenopause for about 10 years and had no idea what was happening to her. "I thought I was going crazy," Berry told the magazine. "I had really bad memory loss. I had a hard time concentrating, I flooded my laundry room three times... I could never find my phone." Berry began to think she had a form of early onset dementia. "When I realized I was in perimenopause and could put a name to it, I started investigating and doing my own research and reconnaissance." Since then, Berry has launched Respin to help others understand more about both peri and menopause.

Although the majority of people who go through menopause are usually between 45 and 55, with the average age in the U.S. being 52 according to the National Institute of Aging, Naomi Watts was only 36 when she first started experiencing symptoms. "Going through menopause at such a young age was not easy, especially during a time when there was so little information available about it," Watts told Hello! in July 2023, adding that the symptoms had her feeling like she was "spiraling out of control." Unable to get the facts she needed from medical professionals, Watts decided she had to advocate for herself.

Like Halle Berry, Watts didn't just want to share her experiences with others, but do something to make it easier for everyone who might be dealing with the same thing. Watts partnered with Menopause Mandate, a non-profit organization to help those who are going through peri and menopause, giving them the information they need to navigate their transition. Watts also wrote a book about her journey, "Dare I Say It: Everything I Wish I'd Known About Menopause," which was published in January 21, 2025.

"I truly believe that if menopause hadn't been such an off-limits topic when I first started experiencing symptoms, I would've had an easier transition," Watts told Hello!, adding that she was part of a cycle that needed to be broken; no longer should women have to suffer in silence, confused as to what's happening to their body. "That's why I'm now so passionate about raising awareness and encouraging more honest conversations," Watts told the magazine.

In November 2022, just ahead of the publication of, "The Light We Carry," Michelle Obama talked to People about how she navigates menopause. "There is not a lot of conversation about menopause," Obama told the magazine. "I'm going through it, and I know all of my friends are going through it. And the information is sparse."

Two years before, in August 2020, Obama talked on The Michelle Obama Podcast about how she was taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to help manage her menopause symptoms. "I had a few (hot flashes) before I started taking hormones," Obama said on her podcast, per Vanity Fair. "I remember having one on Marine 1... I'm dressed, I need to go 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. I thought 'Well, this is crazy. I can't do this.'" 

Obama explained that at the same time she was dealing with her own symptoms, so were many women in Barack Obama's staff. Because of this, noting that certain daily functions — like even just wearing a suit, for example — can become a feat during menopause, Obama talked to her husband about it. Forever cool as a cucumber, the president "didn't fall apart," according to Obama, but instead was "sort of like, 'Oh, well, turn the air conditioner on.'" Now that's how you respond to a completely normal and natural part of life that affects almost half the population. "There's a lot of stuff that women need to talk about so some of these cultural norms change," Obama said on her podcast.

Long before "And Just Like That..." was even a twinkle in anyone's eye, Kim Cattrall talked to Cosmopolitan in 2014 about what menopause might look like for the characters of "Sex and the City." While promoting a menopause awareness campaign for Pfizer, Cattrall told the magazine that she felt empowered by talking about menopause because she was going through it at the time.

"[I] have been going through it for six years," Cattrall, who was then 58, told the magazine. "I'm very fortunate to have a platform to speak to women about it because of SATC... Playing [Samantha Jones] really inspired me to be very open in accessing my feelings about what's going on... Millions of women are going through it; it's part of nature. But it can be very confusing and isolating."

Because there tends to be shame associated with menopause due to misinformation and society's patriarchal views on women getting older, Cattrall doubled down on how natural the transition is. "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," Cattrall told the magazine. "You wonder, will I be attractive, desirable, feminine?... I think it's one of the reasons why it's so taboo is because we don't talk about — it's too frightening even to talk to a doctor about it." Whether it's in your personal life or at work, menopause symptoms can throw your whole world for a loop. Because of this, in the interview, Cattrall urged women to educate themselves on the topic. 

In 2019, Oprah Winfrey penned a piece for Oprah Daily about her menopause journey. Like so many others, Winfrey was clueless as to what was happening to her, as she experienced sleepless nights and never-ending heart palpitations between the ages of 48 and 50. Then one day she picked up "The Wisdom of Menopause," by Dr. Christiane Northrup and found that sleeplessness and heart palpitations are signs that menopause is right around the corner.

"Until that point in my adult life, I don't recall one serious conversation with another woman about what to expect," Winfrey wrote, noting that she'd heard about hot flashes, but that was pretty much it. In finding out that menopause and poor sleep go hand-in-hand and heart palpitations are equally common, but no one talks about it, Winfrey was inspired to dedicate multiple episodes of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" to the topic of menopause.

What Winfrey also realized is that she wasn't prepared for some of the symptoms that come after the menstrual cycle permanently ends. For Winfrey, she struggled to concentrate, finding it "a chore" to even focus long enough to read. After talking to a friend about how dulled down her life had become, Winfrey found relief in an estrogen supplement, as some people do, and was able to be get her life back on track.