Source : PERTHNOW NEWS
Natalie Imbruglia almost quit music as she battled perimenopause.
The 51-year-old pop star has revealed she started having symptoms five years ago and it exacerbated her attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) – and Natalie considered walking away from her career because she was struggling to cope.
Speaking about touring back in 2021, she told the Telegraph newspaper: “I walked in before a show, and said: ‘Guys, I’m gonna have to quit’. I couldn’t process information. I just couldn’t tolerate being like this.”
However, Natalie started hormone-replacement treatment and underwent cognitive behaviour therapy which helped her manage her symptoms and continue with her music career.
She addresses the nightmare she suffered during perimenopause in songs on her new album, Algorithm, and the singer revealed she opened up to her male songwriting collaborators about everything she went through.
Natalie told the publication: “They’re silent, and I was saying: ‘Well, come on guys, you’re married, right?’ And I would just pour my heart out to these guys about everything I was dealing with mentally …
“It was so dark we just had to find the humour in it. But these are things that a lot of women won’t say to their partners – I’ve even been hushed by other women while talking about menopause in front of their husbands at a dinner party.
“But me being me, I always like to go the other way.”
The Torn singer previously opened up about her experience of perimenopause – which describes the years leading up to the menopause when hormone levels begin to fluctuate and symptoms include irregular periods, hot flushes and mood changes can occur – in an interview with The Sunday Times newspaper and she compared her feelings to grief.
She said: “Let’s just say it was a grieving process. I was really angry. I fell off a cliff. It felt like someone had taken some of my personality.”
Natalie also explained speaking with menopause campaigner Davina McCall helped her better understand what she was experiencing as she dealt with “anger and anxiety”.
She said she now manages her symptoms with HRT creams and welcomed the fact that conversations about menopause have become less “shameful or taboo” than they once were.
