*Supermodel Beverly Johnson is sharing her experience with menopause back in the ’90s.
Speaking to PEOPLE magazine Johnson reflected on getting a hysterectomy in 1999 at 47 due to having painful fibroids. A doctor recommended the medical procedure after the fibroids grew back following a myomectomy in her thirties. Johnson described having the hysterectomy as “a life-changing moment.”
“It was a major operation,” she told PEOPLE, as reported by MadameNoire. “I didn’t fully understand what the procedure entailed. The doctor didn’t explain and I thought menopause would come on gradually.”
Johnson had the hysterectomy in 1999 and it left her going through menopause completely unprepared for the changes her body would undergo. “I went from my swinging forties to full-blown menopause and I was not prepared,” she said.
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— Beverly Johnson (@BeverlyJohnson1) October 10, 2022
Some of the changes that Johnson experienced during menopause were weight gain and breaking out into sweats.
“You don’t have the hormones that keep you nice and moist in the areas you want to be nice and moist in,” Johnson said.
“Mentally, you still have a sex drive but physically, there were changes. You’re moist in all the wrong places and that was a big shocker for me. There are all these unexpected consequences,” the 70-year-old fashion icon added.
Johnson said going through menopause made her change her outlook on her health “in a new way.”
“We don’t know why African American women have an increased risk of fibroids and all the complications that come from that, and so for my African American sisters, it’s important to share information about our experience,” said Johnson.
“For all women, we’ve learned to advocate for ourselves. To ask your doctor. We have the power to say ‘I don’t understand.’ Something I didn’t do when I had the hysterectomy,” she added.
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