During a recent panel, Drew Barrymore was candid about the stigma surrounding dating in old age.
Barrymore, 48, joined Maria Shriver, Dr. Sharone Malone, Dr. Heather Hirsch and Dr. Judith Joseph and Oprah Winfrey to discuss menopause on Wednesday. During the panel, Barrymore revealed that she was reluctant to tell a man she was dating about the upcoming discussion.
“There’s something about that stigma that I don’t want you to think I’m some dusty, old, dry thing. That’s not the picture I want,” she said, according to Entertainment Tonight.
Drew Barrymore was reluctant to give a date when she would speak on a panel about menopause because the subject was considered “taboo”. (Getty Images)
DREW BARRYMORE ADMITS THE ‘I’LL GET LOCKED OVER AGAIN AND LOSE MY JOB’ FEAR CAN’T PROTECT HER
The “Blended” star has been experiencing symptoms of perimenopause. (Arturo Holmes/WireImage)
Barrymore has been open about perimenopause symptoms and even experienced her first hot flash on her show. Perimenopause refers to the time around menopause when women experience the transition into menopause, according to the Mayo Clinic.
“I usually feel very self-conscious and I want to be who I am and present myself,” she said. “But in that moment I thought, ‘I have to tell this story because it was a real experience, 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 getting engaged to someone who I want to see me a certain way.'”
The talk show host noted that women should “rename” the word menopause.
“If Mark Zuckerberg could rebrand Facebook to Meta, maybe we could do that for menopause. Because we have the word men-o-pause. Pause is a natural stop…for a lover who might have something off-putting about this subject. Although I don’t find this topic taboo with anyone else,” she explained.
Drew Barrymore announced they were back together six years after their divorce. (Arturo Holmes)
Barrymore recently revealed she was back together while interviewing Whoopi Goldberg on her talk show.
“Because it’s been so many years, I started to worry a little, like I was too good at being alone,” Barrymore explained in December.
The actress and her ex-husband, Will Kopelman, divorced in 2016 after four years of marriage. You have two children.
Drew Barrymore and Will Kopelman share two daughters, Olive and Frankie. (Krista Kennell/WWD/Penske Media)
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Barrymore shocked some fans in 2022 when she revealed she had abstained from sex since splitting from the actor. She wrote a blog post about her decision after a fan claimed she “hates sex”.
“Some people can get out of a marriage or relationship and find themselves in another relationship in the near future. There’s nothing wrong with that! Not one bit. I’m not judging! I celebrate their journey! Because for some people it really works. For me it did didn’t work,” Barrymore wrote at the time.
“I had to remain very celibate and honorable and remain in a sort of grieving state at the loss of a nuclear family that I swore I would have for my daughters and find grace and acceptance and figure out what our new blended family normal was going to be.”
Drew Barrymore starred alongside Lucy Liu and Cameron Diaz in Charlie’s Angels. (SGranitz/WireImage)
The Charlie’s Angels star admitted she needed time post-divorce.
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“It took time. I’m proud of myself for taking this time,” she added. “That’s what I had to do as my own person and nobody else, just me. And I honored that. And I respect myself for how I respect everyone else for their choices. I just came to laugh The fact that being with a partner isn’t my personal priority, but that doesn’t mean it won’t become one someday. I need time. And my perspective on sex has really changed.”