Sarah Lancashire has opened up about the harsh realities of going through the menopause, admitting to a four-word confession about her daily struggles. The 61-year-old actress, known for her roles as PC Catherine Cawood in Happy Valley and Caroline Dawson in Last Tango in Halifax, has been battling the symptoms since 2023.
Struggles with Hot Flushes and Brain Fog
During her appearance at the National Television Awards in 2023, Lancashire admitted to experiencing hot flushes before accepting her award for Best Drama Performance. Speaking to the Mail on Sunday, she revealed she needed two fans "pretty much on my face the whole time" to cool down during the show.
The actress also described how brain fog is dramatically affecting her day-to-day life. She explained: "I was in Sainsbury's the other day, and I found myself just standing there in the aisle and could not remember what I was there for. It just comes over you all of a sudden."
"I can't remember things that happened 30 years ago either," she confessed.
Hiding Symptoms and Trying HRT
Lancashire brought one of her closest friends to the awards show to help conceal her fans from the cameras. She chuckled: "I brought one of my closest friends with me, and his job was to keep an eye out for the cameras, and if it looked like they were going to pan across to us, then he'd let me know so I could hide (the fans)."
The mum-of-three has been using hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to combat some of the most brutal symptoms. She added: "I am on the gel, but it's not great for me, so I might give the patches a go next."
Past Battles with Depression
This isn't the only health issue Lancashire has faced. In 2016, she spoke to the Daily Mail about going through good and bad patches, which made her 20s a "write-off". Diagnosed with clinical depression at 18, she admitted to struggling to get out of bed while working on Coronation Street in the 1990s.
She told the outlet: "In my early days, depression did inhibit me because I was too deliberated and terrified to tell anyone why I couldn't get on a train from Manchester for auditions in London. I fully believed I'd lose work if I admitted to it."
Lancashire described the illness as "absolutely debilitating", which eventually led to a breakdown. She said at the time: "I was terrified of being judged and misunderstood. I just battled along. It was the worst thing I could have done." She added that being in the public eye "makes you frightened to talk openly about things, which is precisely why you should."
