Judy Greer has said that Hollywood isn’t accommodating to perimenopausal women due to “fear about ageing in the business”.
The 50-year-old 13 Going on 30 actor, who’s set to star in Dead of Winter alongside Emma Thompson, experienced insomnia, night sweats and low mood in 2021 due to her estrogen and progesterone levels lowering.
Asked whether the film industry is mindful of women experiencing menopause symptoms, Greer told The i: “Well, there’s a lot of talk about how accommodating they are, and then… they’re not.”
She continued: “I don’t feel like Hollywood is in general accommodating to anything that is not… financially lucrative right now…I think that there is still a lot of fear about ageing in the business.”
Greer, who frequently played best friend characters in romantic comedies at the start of her career, said her favourite roles are now “women my age, who really do something”.
The actor takes on the role of a kidnapper in Dead of Winter, who takes a young woman hostage and is discovered by a grief-stricken widow, played by Thompson, at a remote cabin in snowy Minnesota.
Greer said Thompson, 66, was “probably the greatest actor” she could have hoped to work alongside. “She is like, number one, and you don’t know what to expect,” she said.
“You think maybe to be that good you just have to stay in character all the time. But luckily Emma didn’t. She was very much Emma in between takes.
“And the moment I got to the hotel in Finland she was like, ‘Oh hello, come for dinner with us,’ and we were off to the races.”
Back in 2023, Thompson called for the menopause to become a protected characteristic in the Equality Act and told Andrew Marr on LBC more needed to be done to support women.
“The fact of the matter is, what women need or want, or need protection from, or desire has never been at the top of anyone's agenda in any country, in any part of the world until very recently,” she said.
“So, it's fantastic that we're having these conversations and really recognising that there are 50 per cent of the population that goes through this enormous change.”
Dead of Winter is out in cinemas on 26 September.
