Gen X and older Millennials aren’t treating menopause like a secret or a punchline like generations past. With more access, more solutions and many more women comparing notes, this decade-long chapter is finally getting a modern rewrite and these celebrities have something to do with it. They’re not glamorizing the struggle; they’re making midlife feel visible and kind of iconic.
Naomi Watts
Stripes Beauty founder Naomi Watts has been one of the clearest voices in the “why didn’t anyone explain this before?” era of perimenopause. “At age 43, I went into perimenopause,” she told us, “but I still did not know what that term ‘perimenopause’ actually meant at the time. There’s no one test. If you do a blood panel on your hormones, they could read one way on one day and completely different the next day. It’s really not a perfect indicator.” All of it was happening, she said, “but I only knew of maybe one or two symptoms.” That confusion inspired Stripes Beauty, a skin, hair, body and wellness brand focused on menopause.
Pamela Anderson
Another star leaning into this stage is Pamela Anderson, who’s brought the same stripped-back honesty she’s known for in her makeup-free chapter to menopause. “I had empty nest syndrome, all sorts of syndromes. Hormones! Hot flashes! Moods! It was all happening,” she told Daily Mail. More recently, she’s also stepped into the space as the face of Arrae’s MB-1 45+, a menopause supplement designed to support common shifts like metabolism changes, fluctuating hormone levels and rising cortisol.
Halle Berry
Halle Berry’s candor about menopause has even sparked headlines. Her wellness platform Respin grew out of that reality, and she’s been vocal about how frustrating it can feel to navigate “the change.” Speaking at a menopause summit, Berry said, “First, my ego told me that I was going to skip it.” But when intimacy with her partner caused pain, she went to her gynecologist. “I feel like I have razor blades in my vagina,” she recalled. “I run to my gynecologist and say, ‘Oh my God, what’s happening?’ It was terrible.” The star revealed she was misdiagnosed with an STD, and the experience became a turning point. “Neither one of us has herpes... I realized, after the fact, that this is a symptom of perimenopause,” she said. “My doctor had no knowledge and didn't prepare me. That’s when I knew, ‘I’ve gotta use my platform. I have to use all of who I am and start making a change and a difference.’”
Gabrielle Union-Wade
Gabrielle Union-Wade isn’t pretending hot flashes are some minor inconvenience you power through. As the spokesperson for Lynkuet, a hot flash medication, she’s putting a very real spotlight on what the flashes and night sweats can feel like and why women deserve more support than a shrug and a fan. “It’s a heat you cannot cool—an internal flame,” she told us, admitting that’s how she felt when they first hit. Once she started treatment, she finally got her power back. “Now I feel empowered,” she said. “Menopause isn’t the problem. It’s the lack of conversation.”
Tracee Ellis Ross
Tracee Ellis Ross has been very vocal about her hormone-related changes for years. The actress once told Harper’s Bazaar, “I’m going through perimenopause at the moment. It’s really frying my brain.” She’s also framed it as a shift worth respecting. “It is really bizarre, but it is the most glorious invitation into a new season and chapter in my life.” On We Can Do Hard Things with Glennon Doyle, she talked about the emotional ups and downs. “I can feel my body’s ability to make a child draining out of me. Sometimes I find it hilarious, as if there is a fire sale going on in my uterus, and someone’s in there screaming, ‘All things must go.’”
Drew Barrymore
Drew Barrymore has also been candid about her journey, even calling out hot flashes on her talk show. She’s also investing in the health space, alongside Gwyneth Paltrow and Cameron Diaz, as a backer of Evernow, a menopause telehealth platform. Barrymore told People how quickly things can shift. “All of a sudden, you look at yourself and you’re like, ‘I am not just a crypt keeper; I’m a hairy crypt keeper with dry skin…I did not recognize the person I saw in the mirror,’” she said, adding that focusing on small changes made a big difference. “It’s not good to stay stuck and not feel confident or good about yourself.”
Gwyneth Paltrow
Goop founder Gwyneth Paltrow has never been shy about chasing new, out-of-the-box solutions, and she’s doing the same with her approach to perimenopause. On The Goop Podcast, she opened up about a side of it she didn’t see coming: “I would just wake up [and] get crushed with anxiety, which I’ve never had in my life,” she said. “I would lie in bed thinking about every mistake I’ve ever made…and I would be up, like, for six hours. It was crazy.” She also recently shared her experience with treatments like BTL Exomind, saying she’s “super curious about really any modality where there’s not a lot of side effects,” especially with “what I’m going through now with perimenopause, all this brain fog and anxiety.”
