Doctors welcome ‘Davina effect’ in boosting awareness, but caution against emphasising personal experience and over-hyping HRT
Five years ago, Lorraine Kelly wanted to interview a famous woman about their experience of the menopause on her daytime TV show. Everyone she approached refused, so she decided to turn the tables and have a doctor interview her about her personal story.
Kelly shared with viewers about how she had felt “flat and joyless” despite leading a life she was happy with. It had taken a revelatory consultation with her interviewer, the TV medic Hilary Jones, to learn that she was not suffering from depression, but had menopausal symptoms.
“I thought, nobody else will talk about it so I’ll do it. It was a breakthrough moment, and that’s what I think daytime telly does very well – we’re not afraid to tackle anything. I had someone talking about how to do a poo test for bowel cancer on the show this morning,” she said.
