{"id":71256,"date":"2024-03-27T13:33:05","date_gmt":"2024-03-27T17:33:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/?p=71256"},"modified":"2024-03-27T14:08:21","modified_gmt":"2024-03-27T18:08:21","slug":"gabrielle-union-lets-talk-more-about-periods-perimenopause","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/gabrielle-union-lets-talk-more-about-periods-perimenopause\/","title":{"rendered":"Gabrielle Union: Let’s Talk More About Periods, Perimenopause"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Gabrielle Union, who recently became a spokesperson for Knix, which sells leakproof underwear, wants to promote more conversation about women\u2019s reproductive health. (Credit: the lift by knix, knix.com<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Gabrielle Union<\/a> wants women of all ages to feel more comfortable with having discussions about their reproductive health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NAACP-award-winning actress recently became a brand ambassador for Knix, an intimate apparel brand that sells leak-proof period underwear<\/a>. Union is using the partnership to prompt more discussions around reproductive health for girls and women experiencing everything from periods<\/a> to menopause<\/a>, she told People Magazine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou might discover that you have endometriosis or fibroids or cysts and those crazy periods that feel like hemorrhages,\u201d said Union, who is 51. \u201cYou have a baby. Nobody talks about the postpartum fun that is leaving your body for a minute.” And then, “when you go into perimenopause and your periods are 30 days\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Growing up, Union said discussing topics related to women\u2019s health was taboo in her household. The lack of transparency led her to rely on advice from her teenage peers and also promoted \u201cmisinformation on top of misinformation,\u201d she told People. One untruth she once believed as a teen was that she could not use a tampon as a virgin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy parents just thought, ‘She’s smart so she must know,\u2019\u201d Union said, about her younger self knowing about periods. \u201c\u2018We don’t really need to have a full on discussion.'”<\/p>\n\n\n

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Related<\/h4>\n <\/div>\n \n
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\n \n \"\"\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n
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\n \n Now Florida Lawmakers Want to Stop Girls From Talking About Periods\n <\/a>\n <\/h3>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n

This is not the first time Union has been candid about her body during different stages of life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Union previously revealed<\/a> to USA Today that she had a challenging time during perimenopause \u2014 the stage where a woman transitions to the end of her reproductive years.  Starting at age 37, her symptoms  included hair loss, mood swings, weight gain and brain fog. At one point, around age 48, she even experienced suicidal ideation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aiming to break the stigma around menopause, Union partnered last year with Clearblue\u2019s Menopause Stage Indicator<\/a>, a urine test that helps women understand what part of menopause they are in. Union also says she promotes conversation about women\u2019s reproductive health by having open discussions with important women in her life, like her 77-year-old mother and two daughters, ages five and 16. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want Kaavia and Zaya to know me, not the illusion of what I want them to think,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Related<\/h4>\n <\/div>\n \n
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\n \n \"gwyneth\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n
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\n \n Gwyneth Paltrow, Cameron Diaz and Drew Barrymore Just Invested in a Menopause Startup\n <\/a>\n <\/h3>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Growing up, discussions in Union\u2019s household about reproductive health did not exist \u2014 something the actress says she\u2019s trying to change.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":166,"featured_media":71263,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":false,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19477,73],"tags":[20554,21319,19641],"class_list":["post-71256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity-women","category-happening-now","tag-menopause-awareness","tag-reproductive-health","tag-womens-health"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGabrielle Union: Let's Talk More About Periods, Perimenopause<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Growing up, discussions in Union\u2019s household about reproductive health did not exist \u2014 something the actress says she\u2019s trying to change.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/gabrielle-union-lets-talk-more-about-periods-perimenopause\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gabrielle Union: Let's Talk More About Periods, Perimenopause\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Growing up, discussions in Union\u2019s household about reproductive health did not exist \u2014 something the actress says she\u2019s trying to change.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/gabrielle-union-lets-talk-more-about-periods-perimenopause\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Story Exchange\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheStoryExchange\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-03-27T17:33:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-03-27T18:08:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Gabrielle_Union_Knix_Campaign.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"877\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Claretta J. 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In her spare time, Claretta enjoys painting, spending time with her friends and her cat, Charlotte.","sameAs":["https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/author\/claretta-j-bellamy"],"url":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/author\/claretta-j-bellamy\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/166"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71256"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71256\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71267,"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71256\/revisions\/71267"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}