Drew Barrymore is getting real about menopause. During today’s episode of The Drew Barrymore Show, the actress-turned-talk show host opened up about a date she went on the night before she was set to join a roundtable with Oprah Winfrey about the subject.
Barrymore was a part of the panel, where the group of women discussed “all things menopause” — including hot flashes, sex and brain fog — for Winfrey’s “The Life You Want” class.
While speaking on her daytime talk show, Barrymore dished on her decision to talk about the stigma behind dating during menopause, revealing that she felt “personally embarrassed” bringing the topic up to a man she recently went out with.
When she mentioned to him that she had to get home early because she had to work a panel with Winfrey the next morning and he asked what the subject was, she bashfully replied, “What time’s the movie we’re seeing?”
She added, “I didn’t want to be like, ‘It’s about menopause! Because I’m old and dusty!’”
Barrymore explained that she wanted her date to see her as this “hot” woman, but noted that she “never saw him again.”
Despite this, she said, “It was a great story for the Oprah panel and I’m so glad it happened. And I got to tell you, the discussion was anything but dry and dusty. It was informative. It was fun.”
Elsewhere in the Drew’s News segment, Barrymore talked about the importance of her discussion with Winfrey and the other ladies.
“Oprah is out to change the narrative on how and why we don’t discuss menopause,” she told the audience. “If Meta gets a rebranding from Facebook, we can rebrand menopause. And it needs a rebranding.”
She continued, “Who better than Oprah to pave the way for how all of us women not only feel about ourselves but hold our head up high in the face of whoever might make us feel a little shy about it? Which is ridiculous when I think about it. But it happens. I’m proof!”
The Drew Barrymore Show airs on weekdays on CBS. You can check the website for local airtimes.