'I WAS A MENOPAUSE DENIER!'

LOOSE WOMEN PANELLIST KAVE ADAMS EXCLUSIVELY OPENS UP TO OK! ABOUT COPING WITH THE BIG CHANGE, LEANING ON CLOSE FRIEND NADIA SAWALHA AND HER GOAL OF HELPING OTHER WOMEN

- KAVE ADAMS

TV presenter Kaye Adams says that she’s through the other side of the menopause now but it took a while to come to terms with what is often called “the change of life”. The 57-year-old – who has daughters, Charley, 18, and Bonnie, 13, with her partner of 25 years, Ian Campbell, 58 – might seem like she’s always in control, but a few years ago she had an anxiety attack on the way to LA for a family holiday. It was a while before she realised it was a symptom of menopause, but Kaye, who is also a BBC Radio Scotland host, is hoping that the 42 frank and funny real-life stories shared in her new book Still Hot! can help others deal with the end of their reproductive life.

“There are many symptoms and everyone’s experience is unique,” she says.

Her co-writer is her friend and journalist Vicky Allan, and contributors include celebrity pals Denise Welch, Lorraine Kelly, and Anthea Turner.

Here, Kaye tells OK! how her Loose Women co-star Nadia Sawalha helped her face menopause and reassures us that all women can look forward to this new stage in their lives…

Kaye, can you explain the name of your new book, Still Hot!...

It’s a bit of a pun on the hot flushes, but more seriously it’s about still being relevant and vital with lots of living to do. We want to reaffirm that it’s not the time of your life that you fade into the shadows. It’s quite the opposite. It’s funny because someone asked me if it had anything to do with still being fanciable or hot in the attractive sense, but I said absolutely not. The point of the book is that women have different experiences of menopause, and what comes through in these women’s stories is the sense of freedom that you’re not defined by whether or not somebody fancies you.

When you look back, what was your most menopausal moment?