The 51-year-old actress Gabrielle Union has revealed that she “just felt off” as she dealt with the symptoms of perimenopause, which is when the body starts to make its natural transition to menopause.
The Hollywood star told People: “I just felt off, that’s probably the most accurate way I could describe it. I was just like, not me. I just left the club. That’s like an old woman thing.” Gabrielle particularly struggled to deal with the hair-loss that she suffered.
The actress – who is married to former NBA star Dwyane Wade – recalled feeling like “less of a woman” at the time. “All of it can feel very isolating and you can feel like less of a woman, especially as a black woman where our hair is our crown. There’s literally the Crown Act and I’m like, uh, my crown looks more like a barrette at this moment,” she said.
Union experienced some other symptoms, too. She shared: “It was the hot flashes, the night sweats that could happen at any time of day, brain fog, mood changes, ongoing sadness, anxiety that felt more like terror, hair loss, and then random weight gain. That’s when it really hit home for me.”
Despite this, Union believes society is too quick to “write off women of a certain age”. The actress could’ve easily withdrawn from the spotlight amid her struggles – but she chose not to.
“It’s very easy to write off women of a certain age as you’re just a b—-, you’re just bitter, you’re just whatever. And you can start isolating. And the more you are isolated, the less people are able to track any sort of changes and it’s very easy to go deeper into darkness,” she said.
