Gwyneth Paltrow Opened Up About Being in the “Thick of Perimenopause”

Gwyneth Paltrow is the latest celebrity to open up about experiencing unexpected and major changes as she experiences perimenopause (last year, Naomi Watts shared her journey with it in an interview with InStyle). In a new interview, Paltrow, who is 51 years old, shared that she’s happy to see more and more women opening up about how their bodies are changing and bringing more attention to the different things that are happening as they age.  

“I’m glad that there is a big change in the culture and women are talking about this now. Because in my mother’s generation that was not the case whatsoever,” she told People. Perimenopause, the publication explains, can be a years-long transition period that occurs before menopause. Symptoms differ for everyone, but can include “hot flashes, night sweats, vaginal dryness, insomnia, and irregular periods.”

“I’m really in the thick of perimenopause, so it’s quite a roller coaster and my best advice is that every woman really needs to contemplate what is the right way for her,” she said. “For me, I’ve been really trying to focus on having a very well-functioning gut and liver so that these excess hormones can be flushed out of the body and cause less symptoms.”

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Paltrow continued, saying that she wants her followers and fans — and people everywhere — to understand that perimenopause is a natural thing and that there are multiple ways to handle symptoms.

“There are a lot of great options available, whether it’s HRT or different supplements, but I’m just glad everybody’s talking about it because it used to be so full of shame and it’s just another chapter for us,” Paltrow added. 

Paltrow first mentioned that she’d been experiencing perimenopause back in 2018 with a post on goop’s Instagram. 

“I think when you get into perimenopause, you notice a lot of changes. I can feel the hormonal changes happening: The sweating. The moods,” she revealed at the time. “You’re just like all of a sudden furious for no reason.”

“I think menopause gets a really bad rap and needs a bit of a rebranding,” she added. “I don’t think we have in our society a great example of an aspirational menopausal woman.”