Kelly Ripa spoke frankly about her experience with menopause in an episode of her Let’s Talk Off Camera podcast, released on Thursday, October 4. While interviewing her hormone specialist Dr. Erika Schwartz, Kelly, 53, opened up about connecting with her as she was going through menopause. While it’s a time of big change, the talk show host revealed that there was an unexpected upside to menopause: no more periods.
While giving an intro to the doctor, Kelly explained that she really was very happy to not have her time of the month anymore. “I love not getting my period,” she said. “There I said it. I don’t mind it at all. I think it’s one of the greatest benefits of menopause.”
Aside from being glad to not get her period anymore, Kelly also revealed that she was very excited to get to wear white without any fear of it getting messy. In fact, she called her first Memorial Day to Labor Day run after menopause “the summer of the white pant.” She joked that she “only” wore white pants. “You’re able to wear white pants and not be terrified!” she said.
While Kelly kept the person’s identity a secret, she revealed that she first connected to Erika thanks to a “famous person.” She said that she regularly thanked the person when she saw them. “One day when I could barely sit up, and I was like, ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with me.’ She said, ‘You’re probably perimenopausal,‘ and I was like, ‘No, I get my period constantly,'” she said. “She was like, ‘Yeah, that’s perimenopause.'”
Kelly was incredibly complimentary to the doctor, saying that she was very thankful for all the support she received from her. “I think if I didn’t have you, I don’t know what I would be like right now,” she said before introducing her on the show.
This isn’t the first time that Kelly has opened up about going through menopause. She revealed that she thought she was pregnant with her fourth child in 2020 when she stopped getting her period in a 2022 interview with Haute Living. “I started taking pregnancy tests daily, but then [my husband] Mark [Consuelos] sort of gingerly said, ‘Could there be another reason why you’re not getting your period?’ and me saying, ‘What other reason could there possibly be?’” she told the outlet. “He really had to walk on eggshells here [by explaining to me that I was probably going through menopause].”