Oprah Winfrey On Menopause: “Aging Is Natural, Stop Fighting It”

Unfortunately, aging is just a part of life that we can’t escape. While men have their own challenges with getting older, women seem worse off. In particular, society gives women a bad rep, especially when they go through menopause. The biggest stigma with women weathering “the change” is that they all go crazy. Aging for women has become problematic since we live in a society where everyone wants to remain young forever.

Oprah Winfrey surely knows that there’s no real way to reverse time and be young again. Instead, the media mogul has learned to accept getting older. In fact, she’s asking other women and the rest of society to appreciate the beauty of menopause. In other words, she wants people to just accept that aging is natural, and stop fighting the inevitable.

Oprah Winfrey Says Women Should Stop Fearing Menopause

When it comes to Oprah Winfrey, she pretty much knows what she’s talking about. The billionaire recently sat down with Maria Shriver on an episode of Paramount + "The Checkup With Dr. David Agus" to encourage women to stop fearing menopause.

In an exclusive clip provided by People, Shriver jumpstarts the conversation by stating it’s time for society to normalize the changes women go through as they age.

According to Shriver, women should feel empowered and not feel ashamed to speak out against the changes they go through with their bodies. Unfortunately, the media markets women to fear menopause.

Winfrey shared that Black women, especially, go through the stigmas associated with women and menopause. "Especially for Black women. I know we have been known for bearing a lot and being the strong ones and keep moving no matter what,” Winfrey said during the interview. When it comes down to it, changing the view on women and menopause will help alter stigmas around aging.

Oprah Winfrey Experienced Ageism In The Doctor’s Office

Throughout the rest of the interview, Dr. David Agus shared Winfrey’s experience with ageism at the doctor's office.

Previously, the media mogul paid a visit to her doctor to treat her heart palpitations. Winfrey almost had a catheter put "through her artery into her heart” but decided against it, after learning that the device could have caused even more severe health problems down the line. In the end, it turned out that the palpitations were just a symptom of menopause.

"When I went back to my doctor and said, 'You know this was menopause,' she said, 'Well, you're Oprah Winfrey. I wasn't gonna have you die on me."

Research confirms Winfrey’s findings. According to health reports, Black women do often suffer from heart disease and other cardiovascular problems.

However, heart palpitations aren’t always a sign of a serious underlying health problem. In fact, they can be harmless and stem from various causes, including menopause. This could be due to low estrogen levels and the rearranging of hormones as the female body prepares to undergo the inevitable “change.” What was thought as a threat to her livelihood, turned out to just be the body's natural response to change.

Living In A Society Obsessed With Anti-Aging

These days, the slightest sign of a health problem in an older woman spells death to some doctors. Oprah Winfrey’s doctor assumed that because of her age and race, her heart palpitations were more than likely a sign of heart disease.

Perhaps the doctor didn’t want one of the wealthiest women on the planet to die on her watch and dearly cared for her well-being. However, her response is a sign that society has become obsessed with anti-aging.

Additionally in the episode, Shriver and Winfrey discussed the topic of living in a culture where women shouldn’t want to age and go through menopause.

“The whole culture is set up to tell you that the thing that is most natural — we're surrounded by these beautiful trees here that literally get better with age. I think we all get better with age — the culture is set up to tell us, in our particular society, that it's the wrong thing," Winfrey says.

The star goes on to say that women try to resist the “change” their body goes through. Though, there’s no use in doing so. “In the end, aging is gonna win," Winfrey says.

Everyone says to never get “old” but we don’t really have a choice. While we can’t control the aging process, we do have the power to change how we age.

Through diet, exercise and caring for our bodies, we can live out our best life even after 50. In reality, “old” is truly a type of mindset a person has.

A woman in her 80s can outrun a 20-year-old in a marathon race. Society’s idea of a woman after menopause has only been seen through one, outdated lens for the longest time. It’s time to change the stigma.