Sherri Shepherd was wigging out.
There she was on a plane and sweating like she was at a picnic on a 110-degree day.
"I had one of my wigs on," says the co-host of "The View." "I'm also a woman in her 40s going through peri-menopause, so my body temperature was in the red and the sweat was pouring out."
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"I didn't care if TMZ was sitting three seats away from me!" Shepherd cries. "I took that wig off!"
Oh, that wasn't her only beauty blunder moment thanks to "this time in life."
"I find in peri menopause you have such dryness of your skin," Shepherd says. "One day my son said, 'Mommy, your legs feel rough, like a tree.' I'm like, 'Thanks, honey!'"
Now, it's Shepherd's turn to turn the tables on what all women face.
LAUGHING AT MENOPAUSE
Is menopause a laughing matter? Shepherd thinks so.
She's part of the "Hot Flash Road Show" which opened on Broadway this month and stops in LA on Oct. 5. The show features improv routines, skits and more from Cloris Leachman and "The View" co-host.
"The company Poise came up with the idea of 'The Second Talk' in a woman's life. You have the First Talk when your mother tells you about the birds and the bees," Shepherd says. "The Second Talk is when someone tells you about menopause.
"I didn't know about menopause until 'The View,'" says Shepherd with a laugh. "I went up to hug Joy and she cried, 'Don't touch me! I'm burning up!' Meanwhile, it was freezing in the studio," Shepherd says.
"I was like, 'I don't get this, but then I learned that she was having a hot flash,'" she says.
SHERRI SHEPHERD AND MENOPAUSE
Now in her 40s, Shepherd says she is experiencing menopause symptoms.
"Peri is my middle name," she says. "I keep saying, 'Is it hot or is it just me?' If more than five people say it's hot then I'm like, 'Thank you, Jesus.'
"I know something internal is going on," she says. "As for me, I find myself wearing light clothing in the winter. "
As for other symptoms, she adds, "I get moody, which I call menopausal moodiness. I do use Poise products because they're responsive to women during all times of life. Their products do give me relief. And now they've given me a forum to say to women, 'Come on. Let's share this together for a night.'"
TALKING TO MEN ABOUT MENOPAUSE
Shepherd says the show is a great way to put the topic out there. "Women going through menopause think they're crazy. You have to say, 'No, you're not crazy.'"
The show is filled with skits and sketches. "We want to say that menopause is not a death sentence," Shepherd says. "You can still live a life and have a full life."
First, she says to face it head on.
"A lot of women say, 'I don't know what I did wrong. Why do I face-to-face menopause? Isn't it enough to bring life into this world? Now, I have no sex drive and I'm hot all the time," she laments.
She says that talking to the man in your life helps.
"Men need to know our sex drives get lost in many cases, but it can be found," she says. "These are the concerns I wanted to share with other women through laughter. There are a lot of ha-ha moments."
"You have to tell your man when to hug you and when to cry with you. Our men need to realize that one minute we're laughing and the next minute we're crying. Men don't know what to do.
"We even have a skit that ponders what would happen if men had to go through menopause. In our skit, the men are bloated and feeling very sensitive. They look at a beautiful woman and burst into tears," Shepherd says, chuckling.
What else should men do?
"They need to learn to read us," she says. "And we need a little time and some consideration.
"I did a show with Sinbad and he said, 'When your lady gets to a certain age, you need to have separate air conditioners with separate temperature controls. But I always say to my wife, 'We are having hot flashes. Always say 'we' if you want to live in the same house.'"
Shepherd has other advice.
"Our men should just say, 'You look beautiful,'" Shepherd says. "That always works."
