What used to be called 'the change of life' is a tricky time for all women. Here's how a selection of celebrities - including Julie Walters - have handled the menopause.

By Catherine Moore

Whoopi Goldberg, 55, said the menopause turned her life right upside down. ‘I am haywire. ‘I'm up, down, hot, cold. I'm all over the place.'

Once of the major changes the actress noticed was in her sex drive. ‘One minute I'm like, "Yeah! I can't wait for it." The next I'm saying, "Oh, God, go away."'

And Whoopi was on a rollercoaster ride with her moods. ‘I could cuss you out for two weeks,' she said, ‘then send you a Hallmark card to say I'm sorry.' But the strong moods have had a liberating effect, too: ‘All of a sudden, I don't mind saying to people, "You know what? Get out of my life. You're not right for me."

A talented jazz singer as well as an inspired comedy actress, Cybill Shepherd has used her music to come out loud and proud about the menopause.

In 'Menopause Blues' she belts out: ‘Now you can keep your Viagra - Testosterone, too - My libido's on the rise - This horny bitch ain't through.' Cybill, 61, is a long-time advocate of women's health issues, speaking out about contraception and abortion in an often hostile US. She did two episodes of her sitcom 'Cybill' around menopause issues, after which she was introduced to the natural remedy red clover which has helped her manage her symptoms. ‘I'm not going to romanticise menopause,' says Cybill, ‘It is not easy, but it is also another exciting stage.'

After she started her menopause at 47, Jane Seymour felt she needed help coping and signed up for HRT. But seven years down the line, she decided to stop. ‘I was aware that HRT increases the risk of certain medical conditions such as blood clots, stroke and breast cancer,' she says.

She began eating a diet high in natural phytoestrogens and took red clover and alfalfa. But after a few miserable months in which her grumpy moods and hot flushes returned she decided she had to return to HRT. However, with the continuation of her diet she's managed to halve her dose and uses a patch rather than tablets. ‘Each woman has to create her own way of dealing with the menopause,' says Jane, now 60, ‘one that works for her.'

As if hot flushes weren't bad enough, Linda Robson started having her first ones on stage several years ago at 47. ‘I was on tour in a play called 'Telstar',' she remembers, ‘One night on stage I felt this scalding heat spreading through my body. I became so hot that my make-up melted.'

‘I was worried about taking HRT,' says Linda, ‘But the hot flushes on stage were a real distraction.'

She began taking a low dose of HRT, but when the play stopped, decided to try herbal remedies. ‘I started taking the herbs before I stopped the HRT,' she says, ‘But when I did come off the HRT I only had the odd flush and my mood was brighter. I'm much better and have stopped worrying that I'll become a grumpy old woman.'

‘I went through menopause late and uneventfully,' says 65-year-old Susan Sarandon, who began getting symptoms at 54. ‘And I never went down the HRT road.'

Susan's a great believer in looking after her health through diet. After her menopause, she cut back on carbohydrates, finding that she was putting on weight around her middle. She also takes a calcium and vitamin D supplement for her bones, Vitamin C, emu oil for arthritic knees and the antioxidant Coenzyme-Q10. She also takes a couple of tablespoons of what she refers to as ‘green stuff' - powdered organically grown vegetables including broccoli, kale, turnips and parsnips.

Susan is also a great believer in getting involved with causes you're passionate about in order to stay young, saying: ‘When you are engaged in the bigger picture, you can't afford the space to become so self-involved that everything is a crisis for you.'

National treasure Julie Walters was just happy to see the menopause done and dusted so she could get on with the rest of her life. ‘It's a good time after the menopause,' she says, ‘once the flushes stop and things settle. I've got more energy and things start fitting into place emotionally.'

It's not as though getting older and going through the menopause is going to affect Julie's career the way it does some actresses. She regularly plays characters years older than her 61 years.

Her face fits her roles and she's not about to change it. ‘You see these women and they look odd and lifeless,' she says. ‘And if someone disapproves of you because you've got wrinkles.'

‘So many women I've talked to see menopause as an ending,' says chat show goddess, Oprah. But not Oprah, 57, who's full of invigorating optimism. ‘I've discovered that this is your moment to reinvent yourself after years of focusing on the needs of everyone else,' she says. ‘It's your opportunity to get clear about what matters to you and then to pursue that with all of your energy, time and talent.'

Oprah thought she had a serious heart condition when she began to experience palpitations at the onset of menopause. ‘I thought I was about to die,' she says. It was only after exhaustive tests which showed nothing that she realised what was happening. A racing heart isn't always as benign as it was for Oprah though, and she advises: ‘Please get to a doctor right away if you experience irregular heart rhythm.'

Former Charlie's Angel, Cheryl, was shocked when she first started getting menopausal symptoms at 46. ‘It was the last thing on my mind,' the 60-year-old says. ‘I felt young, healthy and vibrant.'

When she finally visited her doctor she discovered that not only was she experiencing menopausal symptoms, but that she had bone loss in her hip.

‘I found menopause to be an unnerving, confusing time and was dismayed at the lack of clear information available to answer my questions,' she says. It was this that led Cheryl to join the Baseline 50 campaign in the US, which aimed to educate women about the menopause. ‘With a little information,' says Cheryl, ‘women can celebrate menopause as the transition to a new phase in their lives.'

From its beginnings in a tiny theatre in Orlando, Florida, 'Menopause the Musical' became a phenomenon, showing in the US, Australia, Canada and the UK. Writer Jenny Linders created the show ‘as a celebration of women who or on the brink of, in the middle of, or have survived, The Change'.

Germaine Greer, author of 'The Change: Women, Ageing and the Menopause', hates it. ‘Menopause the Musical' shoves us firmly back into the biology-equals-destiny dead-end,' she says. ‘One of the false claims of the promoters is that menopause unites all women, which is simply not true. A significant proportion of women will go through menopause with no symptoms whatsoever but the show presents menopausal uproar as unavoidable.'

Rock legend Stevie Nicks couldn't bear going through the menopause and she didn't care who knew it, ‘Rock and menopause do not mix,' the Fleetwood Mac singer, now 63, complained. ‘It is not good, it sucks and every day I fight it to the death.'

Stevie's been through the mill in her time during what she calls her ‘cocaine and brandy' days. She's still rocking, but with an eye to a healthier lifestyle.

‘I have a big handful of vitamins in the morning and another big handful at night,' she says. At the height of her menopause, four years ago, she still had to get out on stage, ‘I break out in hot flushes and I just have to sit down,' she said at the time. ‘That is when I get a big, fabulous Japanese fan and cool myself. I may as well be fabulous while I'm suffering.'