Michael Douglas, the celebrity hairstylist married to Big Brother legend Davina McCall, has revealed that "hundreds" of men have stopped his wife in the street to thank her since she published her book Menopausing in 2022.
Speaking on the Man Alive podcast with men's health specialist Dr Jeff Foster, Douglas said he noticed the book's reach not in sales figures but in chance encounters. He admitted that when men approach her, his instinct is to think: "Hold it, mate."
Men's reactions to the book
Douglas described how men would approach Davina in public to express their gratitude. He said he is able to "see how difficult" this stage can be for women and that it can carry a real sense of "sadness". His message to men was straightforward: support matters, and it may mean making "concessions" for the person you're with.
He said: "One of the things I've loved the most is men coming up to Davina in the street. I'm a bit like, 'Hold it, mate'. And they come up, and they say, 'My wife gave me your Menopausing book, and I read it, and I sobbed'."
"And they say, 'Thank you so much. You've saved my marriage', you know? And that's one of the nicest things I've seen, men coming up and doing that, and that's happened a lot. Well, the book's only three years old."
Menopause awareness campaign
Douglas said he was amazed by the scale of the reaction: "But I was amazed to see, not just like two or three men, hundreds of men over the course of a month or two months come up to her and say the same thing. So I think men are changing."
For years, Davina has used her platform to push back against the taboo around menopause. Her Channel 4 work has been central to that, fronting Sex, Myths and the Menopause in 2021 and returning in 2022 with Davina McCall: Sex, Mind and the Menopause.
Mental health warning
In March, she lent her support to a Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) call for greater awareness of the connection between menopause and mental health, warning the impact on wellbeing can be "devastating".
An RCPsych Honorary Fellow, Davina said: "Some women sail through the menopause unscathed. But some don't, and the impact on their mental health can be devastating and have a huge impact on their lives and their relationships."
"Lack of knowledge and ingrained stigma still prevent open conversations between doctors and patients, in the workplace and among friends and family, leaving women without the crucial support they need at an incredibly vulnerable time in their lives."
"And it's just not acceptable. Why are women still fighting to be heard?"
