Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Menopause21 took the joy from my life
Lorraine tells of awkward TV moment
LORRAINE Kelly says she knew the menopause had sucked the joy from her life when she had a hot flush while sitting on the sofa with Hugh Jackman.
The TV presenter, 57, was mortified when she realised the symptoms weren’t caused by the presence of the heartthrob actor and admits she has struggled with the change.
She said of the interview five years ago: “I was thinking, I cannot be sitting here talking to Hugh
Jackman all sweaty and hot. I mean, you are anyway, to be honest, when talking to him, but
I can’t be sitting on the sofa with all the symptoms.
“I was getting a little bit narky, I think, I’m safe to say. A little bit like that. Just not feeling myself.”
Speaking to Dr Hilary
Jones on her ITV breakfast show, the host – known for her cheery presenting style – added that despite her happy 25-year marriage to husband Steve Smith and successful daughter Rosie, 23, she felt terribly flat.
“I remember last year, Steve and I had gone away to Spain for the weekend. It was the most beautiful day, everything was fantastic,” she explains. “Rosie was sailing through her exams at university, life was really good, love my job, all of that… and there was no joy in my life. I felt absolutely down. And I couldn’t put my finger on it. “And I didn’t think it was that. I thought, I’ve got the patches, that will be fine.
“It’s that horrible thing, you just feel there’s no joy in your life.”
Dr Hilary prescribed Lorraine hormone replacement therapy in two patches a week. She says of its effects: “I felt all of a sudden like it was lighter. I felt better in myself. But it was a gradual, gradual thing, like coming out of the tunnel into the light.” Lorraine also says exercise helped her moods too, as well as eating more carefully.
She added: “I feel sorry for men as well because some just don’t know how to deal with it.” Lorraine was launching The M Word campaign to encourage women to talk about the menopause. She spoke out after Mirror Pride of Britain host Carol Vorderman admitted feeling suicidal when she experienced hers. Lorraine said: “It was dreadful, she really was almost driven to the brink by it.”