Lisa Rinna is being honest about the treatment that helped her get through the "suffering" that really was her menopause experience.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum, who celebrated her milestone 60th birthday in July, opened up candidly about aging, doing so "disgracefully," and why she is a big proponent of hormone replacement therapy.
Speaking with Cosmopolitan for their Sex Over 60 issue, the reality television mainstay detailed the fears and later relief that she had over HRT.
First detailing how her approach to sex evolved as she got older, she said: "As we age, our hormones change and we change. I mean, we're not procreating. It really goes back to procreation. And when you're ovulating, the universe says you need to make a baby and you’re sexual. So I think it's really interesting when you go through menopause."
She explained: "The truth is, you change. You're not about making a baby. So you're not as crazy sexually driven – you just aren't. I'm a big proponent of hormones, because I think that without them, life is just [expletive] miserable.
"They have been really helpful in my being able to stay feeling good about myself," Lisa maintained.
Further detailing her decision and experience, she admitted: "I was really scared of it because both my mother and my sister had had breast cancer and were very against it," adding: "My mom took HRT for years and years and years, and they think her breast cancer had something to do with it. That was really terrifying."
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Still, she went on: "I didn't take hormones in the beginning of menopause, and I was really suffering," and shared: "Everything you can go through, I was going through it. I couldn't sleep, the hot flashes, everything, and I was anxious and angry and just a mess."
© GettyShe then revealed: "I have an Eastern-Western medicine doctor that I go to. And I went to him one day and he said to me, 'Why aren't you on hormones?' And I said, 'Well, because my mom had breast cancer and my sister had breast cancer.' And he said, 'Okay, hold on.' I was probably 52 at the time."
Lisa recalled him telling her: "If you don't go on hormones, your hair will fall out. Your skin will be dry. You won't be able to have sex because your vagina will be so dry and you'll be on two antidepressants by the time you're 60 and it'll be too late."
© InstagramShe promptly changed her mind, and did bioidentical, a lab-processed, plant-based hormone therapy, and now says: "That was eight years ago, and I haven't looked back. And listen, if I'm going to have a better life by taking them, I'm going to do it.
Lisa ultimately joked: "If you took my hormones away, I would kill you, probably. I really think they're helpful in so many ways."
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