Drew Barrymore gets candid about perimenopause struggles, opens up about feeling “unattractive”

Drew Barrymore has never shied away from being raw about her life, and now she’s bringing that same honesty to her experience with menopause and perimenopause. The 51‑year‑old actress and talk‑show host has opened up about how hormonal changes are affecting her body, mood, and sense of self, describing symptoms like bloating, mood swings, and her willingness to admit that she sometimes feels “unattractive,” bloated, and emotionally unstable has turned a highly personal experience into a public conversation that many women say they wished they’d been able to have much earlier.

Feeling “unattractive” and bloated

On a recent episode of The Drew Barrymore Show, she told viewers she wasn’t feeling her best, saying, “I can’t even get through today without being honest because I can’t fake anything.” She described feeling extremely bloated, using the blunt line, “I am so bloated that I feel like a fish that has washed ashore, just a dead fish.” The clip, later shared on the show’s official Instagram page, prompted an outpouring of support from fans who saw themselves in her words.She also admitted that emotional turbulence is part of the mix. In another People‑related segment, she confessed that after nearly a year without a period, she suddenly got her cycle back, throwing her expectations off. “I was about to hit my one‑year mark for my period and get right into menopause where I belong,” she said. “I got it. I got it. I’m at 11 months. So I go back down to zero. And ugh, I feel unattractive, and I’m so hormonal, and nothing makes sense, and I’m irritable, and I’m bloated, and I am emotionally unstable.

How are you?” These lines, taken from her remarks covered in People‑style reporting, show how confusing and overwhelming perimenopause can feel even for someone used to putting on a bright face every day.

Menopause, hormones, and self‑care

Barrymore has long spoken about her menopause journey, including how hormone replacement therapy and small grooming rituals have helped her feel more like herself again. In past interviews with People, she explained that she “just finished a round of” hormone therapy, which she described as challenging but necessary, and noted that shaving her legs, getting a pedicure, and coloring her hair were simple steps that boosted her confidence.

“It’s not beneficial to remain stagnant and feel unconfident or unattractive,” she told the magazine. “These are just small steps you can take.”By sharing all of this, her jokes about feeling like a “hairy crypt keeper with dry skin,” her honest talk about hot flashes, and her openness about therapy and self-care, Barrymore is reframing menopause as a natural, messy, and very human part of life rather than something to hide. Her words are helping normalize the conversation around a phase that has long been treated as taboo.