During the horrific wildfires that broke out in Los Angeles earlier this year, Gwyneth Paltrow drank “every night” and soon realized that it exacerbated her menopause symptoms.
In an interview with Dr. Mary Clare Haver for Monday’s Goop Podcast, the 52-year-old actress discussed her health. According to Gwyneth, her symptoms are “pretty well under control” as for alcohol consumption.
“Right now, I’m really in the middle of it, so I’m all over the place,” she admitted. However, I’ve realized that my symptoms are generally under control—with the exception of that time in January when the fires in Los Angeles were happening—when I consumed alcohol for its intended purpose.
“Every night” was when the Iron Man actress was drinking when the fires broke out, she said. As far as Gwyneth could remember, she drank every night. I took medication. I normally don’t drink much, if any, alcohol anymore. Maybe I’ll cut back to one drink each week… [My symptoms] were crazy. For the first time, I could see a direct correlation.
“I hear the same thing from a lot of my patients. They’ve decided it’s not worth it to drink anymore, therefore they’ve cut back or stopped drinking entirely. Their recoveries are different. The effect is felt for a longer period of time,” Dr. Haver remarked.
The actress also discussed her problem with insomnia, which she had never had before to menopause, on her podcast. Also, she mentioned that she had a particularly tough time with sleeplessness following menopause, despite the fact that she had always been a real sleeper. On some evenings, I would mistakenly believe that my anxiousness indicated a lack of progesterone or some other hormone that would prevent me from sleeping.
“I would just wake up [and] I would get crushed with anxiety, which I’ve never had in my life,” said Gwyneth. For the next six hours, I would lay in bed dwelling on my sins, the emotions of those I have wronged, and any other negative experiences I have had. This was just insane. Hopefully, I’m going to make it through this unscathed.
According to Dr. Haver, “in perimenopause, we call it the zone of hormonal chaos,” and this state might last for a long time. That it is “all over the place” was her response. Our minds despise disorder, and it’s totally unpredictable. When asked about her patients’ experiences with alcohol, she replied that many had trouble sleeping and that “their hot flashes are horrible.”
After the wildfires in January destroyed thousands of buildings—including the houses of celebrities—and caused residents to evacuate, Gwyneth expressed her deepest sorrow. “Our beloved Los Angeles…,” she captioned her Instagram post. Many of our dear friends have lost everything, and we grieve with them. She assured everyone that she and her family were okay, but she sold their unburned Brentwood house for $22 million at the end of January.