As Newshub’s entertainment editor, Kate Rodger is used to seeing her email inbox rapidly fill with messages after she’s given some action movie a two-star review, when clearly to others it was worthy of five. But lately, her inbox has been overflowing with messages of a different kind.
Since recently appearing on The AM Show to share her honest experience of menopause, the bubbly 54-year-old has been contacted every day by women suffering the same symptoms – and often in secrecy.
“They’ve all disclosed with me a different version of the same story, which is that they didn’t know what was happening to them or they now feel validated,” tells Kate, determined to break the taboo.
“I’m saddened to hear from women in abject misery due to menopausal symptoms, which are having such a negative effect on their life. This is not right. I’m sick of it not being talked about.
“I don’t want these women to be shunned or silenced! I want the conversation to be normalised just as much as women talk about periods or sex.
“I’m of a generation where my mother and aunts never spoke about it. So I woke up one day and felt angry at everyone in my house except the cat. I started getting up five times a night because I was lava, and had to put my head in the fridge and scull cold milk.”
This story is from the November 22 2021 edition of New Zealand Woman's Weekly.
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This story is from the November 22 2021 edition of New Zealand Woman's Weekly.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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