There has to be a change in culture, says Kelly. “We need a greater understanding of the menopause, more support in the workplace and for women not to feel embarrassed or ashamed.”
Talking openly about the menopause will not only help women understand and manage their symptoms, she adds: it can have a profound impact on the way a woman is seen.
“There is a reluctance to acknowledge it – especially in the entertainment industry – as there is a perception it puts you over the hill. So we need to take that back and be more realistic about it being just another part of life.”
“Menopause is freedom for a lot of women. I certainly view it like that. I feel in my prime.”
The approach could be practised at home too, she adds, making it clear that menopause is also an issue for a woman’s partner or husband, not something to be swept under the carpet.
“My husband was actually the one who noticed something was different in me,” recalls Kelly. “He said: ‘You need to do something. You’re different. I am losing you.’”
Kelly has been married for nearly 30 years to Steve Smith, a TV cameraman; the couple share a daughter Rosie, now 27. Not surprisingly, she took such a plea seriously.
“I realised I was different – it’s hard to describe,” she says, of the first perimenopausal symptoms, which had started appearing in her late 40s. “I was just flat. And joyless. It crept up on me.”
She points out that this is hardly odd: according to a new survey by Always Discreet, two-thirds of women say they feel underprepared for menopause – defined as when a woman’s periods have stopped for a year, affecting women at the average age of 51 in the UK.
Kelly goes on: “I just thought I was working too hard. But I wasn’t sleeping, I had no interest in anything. So clearly there was something else going on.”
After taking advice, Kelly was prescribed hormone replacement therapy (HRT). “It was life-changing,” she says today, nearly a decade later. “I had a patch on my bum, which I switched twice a week. It kicked in quickly – a month or two later, and Steve said to me: ‘I’ve got you back’.”
Her solution may not be for everyone, she adds. “It’s about informed choice, isn’t it? We should all have that.”
The current NHS advice is to stay on HRT as long as is necessary to control symptoms, with most women staying on the medication for just a few years, but Kelly sees no reason to ever stop. “There doesn’t seem to be any risk [in being] on HRT forever,” she says. “It can help protect the heart and against osteoporosis. There is a very small risk of breast cancer for some women, but a lot of those fears have been dismissed.”
She adds: “I do check my boobs for lumps regularly. And remember – everyone’s menopause is different. So that’s why we need knowledge and information; that is power.”
Kelly seems to have outlasted every suggestion post-menopause females are no longer employable on screen. “I will carry on as long as people want to watch but I never take it for granted,” she adds. Things are improving, she says, pointing to the fact that the editor of ITV daytime and the overall head of ITV are both women.
She is famously un-tweaked in any way, though says she doesn’t judge others for having work done. “I would be too scared to have anything done… but also, I don’t see the point of it. Everyone looks like they’ve been through the wind tunnel. They look the same. What’s the point?”
Speaking to me on Zoom, she looks as young and bonny as ever – and light years away from her 60s. “No one is hired for their looks on breakfast telly,” she says cheerfully. “Although I look back and I think: ‘What am I wearing? I look like a bag of washing!’”
