For too long, menopause has been treated like a secret—something women quietly endured rather than openly discussed. But that narrative is changing, and Entertainment Tonight host Nischelle Turner is helping to lead the charge.
In a recent interview, she shared her personal experience with perimenopause, shedding light on the realities of this transition and how she’s navigating it with confidence and self-assurance.
“You look at me, and you probably don’t know—but I am a woman that is going through menopause and is perimenopausal,” Turner said. “But I feel great. And you can! It doesn’t have to be debilitating. It doesn’t have to be this really scary thing.”
Like many women, Turner entered perimenopause with little-to-no education about what to expect.
“My mother never spoke to me about it. My grandmother never spoke to me about it. I had no idea what perimenopause was,” she admitted.
The lack of information left her unprepared for symptoms that seemed to appear out of nowhere.
Hot flashes? She’s avoided those so far.
But other changes—like unexpected weight gain and hair growth in places she never anticipated—caught her off guard.
“I thought, ‘Where did this come from?’” she said with a laugh. “Do I have a beard? What is going on?”
One symptom that truly baffled her? Intense, unexplained itching.
“My skin started itching, and I was like, ‘What’s wrong?’” she recalled. It wasn’t until she heard actress Tabitha Brown discuss similar issues on Instagram that she realized itchy skin is a lesser-known symptom of perimenopause.
“It’s not like my skin’s dry—I’m always moisturized,” Turner explained. “It’s just something inside.”
Determined to find relief, Turner turned to hormone replacement therapy (HRT), a decision she describes as life-changing.
“It was the best decision I could have ever made for myself,” she said. “I feel like a completely different person. When you balance yourself out, you feel different, you move differently.”
But she also didn’t hold back on calling out the disparity in medical attention between men and women when it comes to hormonal changes.
“[If menopause happened to men], there would be a menopause institute right across the street,” she quipped.
Turner’s honesty is part of a larger movement—one that’s pushing perimenopause out of the shadows and into the conversation. As more women speak openly about their experiences, the stigma fades and access to better care and education grows.
Her story serves as a reminder: perimenopause is inevitable, but suffering through it in silence doesn’t have to be. With the right knowledge, support and medical care, women can move through this transition feeling strong, informed and empowered.