Former First Lady Michelle Obama says society should be more accepting of the menopause, adding ‘we’re living like it’s not happening’.

She recalled a time when she was aboard the presidential helicopter Marina One on the way to an engagement with her husband, then-President Barack Obama, and experienced a ‘hot flash’.

“It was like somebody put a furnace in my core and turned it on high. And then everything started melting. And I thought, ‘Well this is crazy, I can’t, I can’t, I can’t do this’."

Speaking to Sharon Malone, a Washington DC-based obstetrician and gynecologist on The Michelle Obama Podcast, she continued: “What a woman’s body is taking her through is important information. It’s an important thing to take up space in a society, because half of us are going through this but we’re living like it’s not happening.” 

Obama also spoke about her husband’s experience working with women in his cabinet who were going through the menopause.

"[He was] surrounded by women in his cabinet, many going through menopause and he could see it, he could see it in somebody, ‘cause sweat would start pouring and he’s like, ‘well what’s going on’, you know, and it’s like, no, this is just how we live.

“[He] didn’t fall apart because he found out there were several women in his staff that were going through menopause [and] was just sort of like, ‘oh, well turn the air conditioner on’.”