THE GREAT O ON THE BIG M

Palpitations, brain fog, low mood – menopause wasn’t kind to Oprah, who is speaking out about this tumultuous time in a woman’s life

- NICOLA WHITFIELD

SHE’S spoken out about a lot of things and people usually listen because, well, she’s Oprah Winfrey: the guru of self-help, the magician of inspiration, the wizard of the pick-me-up. And when Oprah talks about matters regarding herself it often helps us to feel a little bit better about ourselves too.

The talk-show queen has been open about her traumatic childhood, her weight issues, the grief she felt when she lost loved ones and her health. Last year she revealed she’d had a double-knee operation that’d left her in agony but had ultimately given her a greater appreciation of life.

See, her fans said. Oprah is really just like us – she’s getting older, she has aches and pains too. O has never shied away from the subject of ageing. Many women in the spotlight try to slow the inevitable with a blast of Botox here and a nip and tuck there but with her, what you see is what you get.

And right now what you see is a woman months shy of her 70th birthday trying to change one big thing that affects all women as they age: the stigma that surrounds the Big M. “For generations, millions of women have suffered the symptoms of menopause and suffered in silence and it’s always been shrouded in stigma and shame,” Oprah says on The Life You Want on her Oprah Daily TV show.

“Women have told me they feel invisible, as though their very selves are disappearing. But we’re flipping that script because we want to help women build the life you want – we want to help you become your whole vibrant self.”

In typical Oprah style, she shares her own experiences of menopause – and although she says she never experienced hot flushes, she did develop symptoms that made her believe she was in serious trouble.