Barrymore sat down with Oprah Winfrey, Maria Shriver and more for a panel focused on menopause.
Drew Barrymore is getting real about perimenopause and her dating life.
Barrymore joined Oprah Winfrey, Maria Shriver, Dr. Sharone Malone, Dr. Heather Hirsch and Dr. Judith Joseph for a conversation about menopause, which aired on Winfrey's OprahDaily.com Wednesday, where she shared how the symptoms of perimenopause and menopause have impacted the way she dates.
Per the Mayo Clinic, perimenopause means "around menopause" and "refers to the time during which your body makes the natural transition to menopause, marking the end of the reproductive years."
"There’s something in that stigma that I don’t want you to think I’m some dusty, old, dry thing. That’s not the image I want," Barrymore shared after revealing that she hesitated to tell a date about the panel, and namely, it's topic of discussion.
"I feel very confident, normally, and I want to be who I am and present myself. But in that moment, I thought, I have to tell this story because it was a real life experience of, I'm so proud to be here. I'm an open book. But in that one moment, I was like, 'I don't want to say what it is, because I'm engaging in someone who I want to see me a certain way,'" she explained.
Barrymore said that the moment made her think of menopause differently and question whether there's a way to "rebrand" the sometimes taboo topic.
"If Mark Zuckerberg could rebrand Facebook to Meta, maybe we can do this for menopause. Because, we've got the word men-o-pause. Pause is a natural stop... to a lover that there might be something repellent about that subject. Whereas with no one else do I find this subject taboo," Barrymore explained.
She continued, "You're just that dry old bag when you talk about menopause. And that is the conversation, the stigma that has to change. We have to make it funnier, more sexy and more safe. Because the 'aha moment' is the safe."
Barrymore's candid conversation surrounding menopause comes just days after she experienced her first hot flash while filming an episode of her talk show, The Drew Barrymore Show. It happened while Barrymore was interviewing pals Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler.
"I'm so hot. I think I'm having one of my first perimenopause hot flashes," the 48-year-old actress shared, taking off her jacket and fanning herself as Aniston helped her adjust her microphone. "For the first time, I think I'm having my first hot flash."
"I feel so honored," Aniston, 54, quipped of the moment.
"Oh boy!" Sandler, 56, added.
Flushed, Barrymore apologized, saying, "I'm so sorry. Do you feel this?"
Aniston placed her hand on Barrymore's collarbone, saying, "Oh, I do! Internal heat."
Barrymore continued the interview, joking, "Well, I'm so glad I have this moment documented."
For more candid moments from Barrymore, check out the video below.
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