Alyssa Milan And Jeannie May are ready to spark a conversation about perimenopause.
“One of the symptoms is forgetfulness. Another symptom is not having the calmness you had in your 30s,” Mai, 47, shared exclusively with Us every week at the Los Angeles premiere of the upcoming 4-part documentary series Balance: a journey into perimenopause on January 13. “Sometimes it feels like panic attacks or anxiety attacks. Sometimes it feels like inner insecurity. I like to compare menopause to puberty in reverse, and in the same way that we have space and language around teenagers, we should have that language around women in their 40s.”
After Milano, 53, welcomed daughter Elizabella in 2014, the actress – who also shares Milo, 14, with her husband David Bugliari – noticed a change in his mental health.
“For me, I gave birth to my daughter when I was 41, so I think what I thought was postpartum anxiety was actually perimenopause,” she explained. We. “Where is this kind of crossover? Where is this crossover? Because women are having babies later and later in life. How many of them are going through perimenopause while pregnant?”
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According to the Mayo ClinicPerimenopause is the period before menopause when a woman’s body prepares to stop having periods. Some women notice changes as early as their 30s or into their 50s.
Other common symptoms include mood changes, problems sleeping, hot flashes, and irregular periods.
In Balance: a journey into perimenopausemonks and co-directors Sadhvi Siddhali Shree And Sadhvi Anubhuti take on the challenge of combating misinformation, fighting medical injustice, and educating women on how to make the best choices to live the lives they deserve.
Mai and Milano, who serve as executive producers, wanted to be part of the project in hopes of making the conversation around perimenopause more accessible to women and those who love them.
Jeannie Mai, Alyssa Milano, Sadhvi Siddhali Shree and Sadhvi Anubhuti
Victoria Sirakova for Siddhayatan Tirth Production“Perimenopause is not just a conversation between men and women,” Mai told We. “With women in perimenopause, all men and all family members and partners should all be part of the conversation so that we learn what it means to work together and make space for women who need that conversation to be normal. We’re all in this together.”
Milano added: “I really think we’re going to see a lot of change, hopefully, in the next 10 years. It’s amazing to me that something that affects a woman for 10 years, we don’t have more answers. That’s a decade of our lives. It’s so crazy to me.”
As viewers prepare to watch Balance: a journey into perimenopauseexecutive producers hope the raw and personal stories of struggle, resilience and discovery will inspire women to feel excited about the future.
Katherine Heigl is embracing life as a perimenopausal woman who has already enjoyed the peak of her career — and she’s not afraid to show it. “I didn’t think about [aging] in your twenties, right? In my twenties I was sort of at the peak of my career and I could do anything […]
According to Mai, life is just beginning.
“Women – for too long due to societal norms – have regretted getting older or reaching this stage of life,” she said. “But they should feel empowered by having earned their place here, and they should feel educated and deserving of the education that should be available to them. That’s why this film is here.”
Balance: a journey into perimenopause is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV starting Friday, January 30.
