Menopause in the Eyes of Hollywood

Media portrayals of women especially in shows like Sex and the City and its sequel, And Just Like That, shape how we view aging and female solidarity. These narratives don't just entertain, they quietly inform how we measure ourselves and one another. I’ve always believed women should champion each other, rooting for our collective successes. Imagine if we formed a true alliance(for lack of a better word, thanks to the ever-present brain fog-maybe the right term will return to me later, or maybe not..lol) But as I watched
what happens to women in Hollywood, especially those aging in the spotlight, I started noticing a troubling pattern. For example, in so many movies, the actresses cast as mothers are barley older than their on-screen children. And as women age especially in Hollywood, they seen to disappear from major roles , relegated to the background or erased altogether, I find myself comparing my own aging—hair thinning, wrinkles, a little belly,(thanks, Eve, you took a bite of the apple, and we turn into them in our 50’s)-to these seemingly flawless Hollywood women. It’s as though their struggles with menopause and aging are invisible, even thou millions of us are living them every day. In And Just Like That, for instance none of the characters mention that they are in menopause, and they are because I’m their same age. It’s a stark contrast to the original Sex and the City episodes, where they talked about everything. I remember laughing at Samantha’s “menopause whisperer” scene in the second Sex and the City movie, where she eats hummus for the chickpea benefits and admits to taking 44 supplements a day. Back then, I was younger and just thought her antics were funny. Now, I find myself relating to her struggles—I too have a supplement stash

That’s bordering on comic, and I'm still waiting for my brain fog to clear long enough to remember the word ‘coalition’ without a Google search. Yes, that is the word. In And Just Like That there is no mention of the pause, and no real talk to each other of what really is going on in their lives, like in Sex and the City series. They all talked about their menstrual cycles and timing of them, or lateness of them. I loved watching because I felt like I was in a group of friends, I would wait patiently till the Sunday episode, since streaming was not even a thing back then. So when And Just Like That ignored our real world, not Hollywood issues I was disappointed, enraged, and boycotted the show. They had the platform to help women understand that they don’t have to keep menopause a secret and how we women should embrace it and each other. Instead, they ignored it, and I feel that they alienated the women like me that would live for Sunday night to watch my
New York City girlfriends talk about what was happening with their life in the city. By sharing these moments- both onscreen and in real life- we can start to rewrite the narrative around aging and female solidarity. Hollywood may offer a filtered version of these experiences, but our reality with all its humor and candor, is worth celebrating.

Written by:
Marianne Krammes
Coach