On a new episode of The Michelle Obama Podcast, the former first lady opens up about her personal experience with menopause and aspects of women’s health.
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“You may want to put this on the speaker and blast it throughout the house so that your husband or your boyfriend, or your brother, they can hear it too,” she says.
She continues, “I think this one might help open up some eyes, and help you open up a conversation that you’ve been meaning to have. It’s worth it for everybody to hear this kind of stuff.”
The latest episode titled “What Your Mother Never Told You About Health” features Obama in conversation with OB/GYN Dr. Sharon Malone. The women cover a range of topics from puberty to aging.
“As women, we often have questions about our bodies—what we know, what we don’t know, what we’re uncertain or anxious about. In our conversation on The #MichelleObamaPodcast, we talk about everything from puberty to menopause, from body image to hot flashes,” she writes on Instagram.
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Just as in a prior episode where she shares details of her depression, Obama does not spare listeners the truth of her own experience as a woman entering a new season of life.
“I experienced the night sweats, even in my 30’s, and, when you think of the other symptoms that come along, just hot flashes—I mean, I had a few before I started taking hormones,” she says.
“I remember having one on Marine One. I’m dressed, I need to get out, walk into an event, and literally, it was like somebody put a furnace in my core and turned it on high, and then everything started melting. And I thought, Well, this is crazy, I can’t, I can’t, I can’t do this.”
President Barack Obama supported not only his wife but the women in his cabinet going through hormonal changes as well.
“You know, he didn’t fall apart because he found out there were several women in his staff that were going through menopause; it was just sort of like, ‘Oh, well, turn the air conditioner on,” she remembers.
Malone also shares her personal journey, proclaiming new rules she has set for herself since turning 60.
“When I turned 60, I said to myself, You know, I’m going to give myself this gift, and the gift is I’m going to say yes to everything I want to say yes to and no to everything I don’t,” she remarks.
The OB/GYN also offers professional explainers for what happens when bodies change. The full podcast episode can be listened to below.
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