‘I finally feel brave again’

‘Now, at 50, I have my energy back. I feel like anything is possible’

Sitting down with Andrea McLean is like catching up with an old friend. She’s warm, open and funny: nothing is off limits.

After announcing in 2016 that she’d be taking time off to have a hysterectomy – which triggered early menopause – she was inundated with messages from women asking for information and advice. She couldn’t respond to every query so, with the help of a menopause expert, she penned a bestselling book, Confessions of a Menopausal Woman .

“My experience hasn’t been brilliant, but women don’t need to accept that this is how it