Kelly Ripa Enjoys 1 Aspect of Menopause: ‘I Love Not Getting My Period’
Kelly Ripa Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SiriusXMMost women hate menopause, but Kelly Ripa says she discovered one positive aspect of the process. “I love not getting my period,” the Emmy winner, 53, said on the Tuesday, October 3, episode of her podcast, “Let’s Talk Off Camera With Kelly Ripa.” The cohost of Live With Kelly and Mark revealed that she experienced the beginning of menopause while coping with the COVID-19 pandemic. Ripa acknowledged that the end of a woman’s menstrual cycles is a topic many people want to avoid. “People still whisper the word menopause,” she said, adding that “the information is still so hidden.” Ripa spoke with her own hormone doctor, Dr. Erika Schwartz, on the program to discuss the stigmas and lack of information surrounding menopause. Related: Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos Relationship Timeline Who knew that a 1995 screen test for All My Children would result in one of Hollywood’s most successful love stories? More than
Most women hate menopause, but Kelly Ripa says she discovered one positive aspect of the process.
“I love not getting my period,” the Emmy winner, 53, said on the Tuesday, October 3, episode of her podcast, “Let’s Talk Off Camera With Kelly Ripa.”
The cohost of Live With Kelly and Mark revealed that she experienced the beginning of menopause while coping with the COVID-19 pandemic. Ripa acknowledged that the end of a woman’s menstrual cycles is a topic many people want to avoid.
“People still whisper the word menopause,” she said, adding that “the information is still so hidden.”
Ripa spoke with her own hormone doctor, Dr. Erika Schwartz, on the program to discuss the stigmas and lack of information surrounding menopause.
“We’re still in the Dark Ages,” Dr. Schwartz said. “It was like a bad secret.”
The former All My Children star says that many of her older friends are in denial about going through menopause and “routinely tell me they still get their periods regularly.”
“They’re talking to me, an open book, and still cannot bring themselves to talk about having gone through menopause. It is too scary for them to acknowledge,” the TV personality continued.
She celebrated her 53rd birthday on October 2, and the Live With Kelly and Mark host — who has been married to Mark Consuelos since 1996 — wants women in her age bracket to feel more comfortable talking about menopause.
Ripa says older women think menopause is “embarrassing, and I don’t know why that is, though, in this day and age.”
Dr. Schwartz offered that women often believe that menopause is a sign of no longer being relevant.
“Because, in this day and age, there’s still a lot from yesterday’s day and age that has permeated the society and culture,” the doctor said. “And we think that being aged beyond menopause, we’re no longer useful.”
“The moment you’re no longer fertile, you’re not useful,” Dr. Schwartz continued. “I think you’re very useful. That’s when you have the information, the experience. You have so much to bring to the table, that I think every woman should feel great about herself.”
Ripa — who is mom to Michael, 26, Lola, 22, and Joaquin, 20 — recalled in the past that she avoided wearing pants of a certain color, but once she realized she was going through menopause, it opened up her fashion options.
“My first Memorial Day through Labor Day after menopause … it was the summer of the white pants because I never had to worry about wearing white pants,” she said.
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