‘Sex and the City’ star Kim, 58, is fronting a new US awareness campaign Tune In To Menopause. Its aim? To encourage women to talk - and learn more - about this transitional period in our lives. 'I see menopause as the start of the next fabulous phase of life as a woman,' she insists. 'Now is a time to "tune in" to our bodies and embrace this new chapter. If anything, I feel more myself and love my body more now, at 58 years old, than ever before.'

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Julie, 64, says she feels liberated after finally coming through the menopause after more than a decade of symptoms. The actress regularly experienced up to 15 hot flushes in one night - which meant her sleep suffered, too. Julie credits acupuncture and cutting down on booze with helping her manage her symptoms. Her advice? 'If you deal with it in a healthy fashion then I think you come out the other side a better person. I've got so much more energy now than I ever had in my early 50s before the menopause.'

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Artist Tracey, 51, spoke very candidly - and controversially - about her experiences of the menopause during a 2012 interview with ‘The Guardian’. 'People don't talk about it. But the menopause, for me, makes you feel slightly dead, so you have to start using the other things - using your mind more, read more, you have to be more enlightened, you have to take on new things, think of new ideas, discover new things, start looking at the stars, understand astronomy... Just wake yourself up. Otherwise, it's a gentle decline. For women, it's the beginning of dying.' Steady on!

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To take HRT or not to take HRT? That is the question for many of us. And TV stalwart Gloria, 74, is pleased she managed to do without HRT, despite her GP's eagerness to prescribe it. 'My menopause started  at 44,' she told the ‘Daily Mail’. 'But I was fortunate in that I really didn't suffer much at all. I had no hot flushes. All that really happened is that my periods went away.' Gloria took vitamin supplements, ate a balanced diet with plenty of fresh fruit and veg and went for long walks to help her stay healthy.

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TV actress Amanda, 57, is another star who's keen for women to talk openly about the menopause. She told the 'Daily Telegraph': 'How hideous for women of our mothers' generation, because - while me and my girlfriends will talk about everything under the sun, including the menopause - it was something they didn't discuss. They must have felt so lonely and embarrassed all the time. For me, it's tailing off now. But I can still suddenly go that awful colour when I'm talking to somebody and sweat beads will break out on my upper lip. You're acutely aware of it, even if they're not. But the more open we are about it, the less of a taboo it will become.'

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Ever the optimist, Emma, 55, has found a reason to be thankful for her menopausal hot flushes. Picking up an award at a ceremony in New York earlier this year, the actress told the audience: 'It's such a cold night. You know, it's the first time I've been actively grateful for the menopause.' Always look on the bright side, eh?

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Interiors guru Linda, 52, is someone else who's managed to find a positive side to the menopause - eventually. Writing in the ‘Daily Express’ earlier this year, she revealed that her menopausal symptoms - night sweats, mood swings, memory problems and heavy periods - hit her 'like a freight train' four years ago. Her response? Linda changed her diet and began cooking with ingredients containing natural phytooestrogens, such as soya and oats. She also focused on weight-bearing exercise: 'As a result, I’m stronger than I’ve ever been - you should see my biceps - and I feel full of energy. That’s a result of realising that I’m getting older now, not younger, so I need to make an effort. 

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For ‘Dancing on Ice’ star Karen, 53, the onset of menopause coincided with the early days of a new relationship, with fellow ice-skater Christopher Dean. The worst symptom? Hot flushes. But the emotional upheaval came as a shock, too. 'Confidence is so important, and the way I was feeling really affected me,' she told the ‘Daily Mirror’. 'The annoying thing is that nobody talks about the menopause. Why is that? It happens to literally every woman in the world, and yet we're all embarrassed about it.' Karen now takes a natural supplement, Promensil, to keep her hormone levels in check.

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Singer Belinda, 56, suffered up to 40 hot flushes each day when she first began to experience menopausal symptoms in her late 40s. The solution? A 10p-sized magnet, prescribed to her by a Harley Street doctor, Nyjon Eccles, who believes the magnetic forces help to relieve an over-reaction in the nervous symptom, which influences anxiety and sweating. Speaking recently to the ‘Daily Mail’, Belinda said: 'Within 48 hours, I went from having 30 to 40 hot flushes to having none at all. I felt like the old Belinda again - in fact better than that.' Well, whatever works...

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Singer Tori, 51, has been very vocal about her quest to encourage more women to discuss the menopause, something she addressed when working on her latest album. She says: 'Menopause is a tough road and a tough teacher. Finding your own self-acceptance and sensuality within it is, well, sometimes it's a real hunt. You have to dive in there because of the feelings that you're having. All of the songs on this new record were written to deal with this stuff. There is a quiet, silent grieving that happens through menopause.'

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Toyah, 56, spoke about her own experiences of the menopause in an interview with the ‘Birmingham Mail’ last year. 'I had a hysterectomy then went straight on to HRT, so I didn't have any problems,' the singer-turned-actress breezed. 'But I have a very clear memory of being hormonal. My favourite snack once a month was anchovies with marshmallow.' Yum!

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US superstar Whoopi, 58, has never been one to hold back about anything. And in 2012, she confessed to experiencing menopausal symptoms on-air during a political discussion on talk show ‘The View’. 'You know what?' she commented. 'I just had a big ol' hot flush. And my underwear is wet. So I have to go.' Whoopi has also talked openly about the fluctuations in her sex drive: 'One minute I'm like, "Yeah! I can't wait for it." The next I'm saying, "Oh, God, go away."' We hear you, sister!

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Actress and singer Cybill, 64, has long been a proud advocate of women's health issues - and has written a song entitled 'Menopause Blues'. A sample lyric? 'Now you can keep your Viagra / Testosterone, too / My libido's on the rise / This horny bitch ain't through.' Cybill has also credited psychotherapy sessions with helping her handle the menopause. 

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As if hot flushes weren't bad enough, ‘Birds of a Feather’ star Linda, 56, experienced her first ones when she was performing on-stage in a play. 'One night, I felt this scalding heat spreading through my body,' she told the ‘Daily Mail’. 'I became so hot that my make-up melted. I was worried about taking HRT. But the hot flushes on stage were a real distraction.' She began taking a low dose of HRT to get the symptoms under control - before switching to herbal remedies once the play's run had finished.

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'I went through menopause late and uneventfully,' says Hollywood superstar Susan, 68. 'I never went down the HRT route.' The actress began to experience symptoms at the age of 54. A great believer in healthy eating, she cut back on carbohydrates when she started to put on weight around her stomach after the menopause. Another tip from Susan? Ignore the ageing process and focus on saving the world! 'When you're engaged in the bigger picture, you can't afford the space to become so self-involved that everything is a crisis for you,' she says.

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'So many women I've talked to see menopause as an ending,' says US chat show queen Oprah, 60. 'But I've discovered this is your moment to reinvent yourself after years of focusing on the needs of everyone else. It's your opportunity to get clear about what matters to you and then to pursue that with all of your energy, time and talent.'

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