Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated actress Gloria Reuben has displayed her talent on screen for years, embodying unforgettable characters such as Jeanie Boulet in the medical drama “ER”. She also toured with rock and roll legend Tina Turner. Now she’s stepping into a new role: advocate for women experiencing menopause.
BlackDoctor.org sat down with Reuben who candidly shared her journey through menopause, shedding light on the challenges she faced and the relief she found with a hormone-free treatment. Her story is not just about hot flashes and night sweats—it’s about breaking the silence, empowering women, and embracing every stage of life with grace and confidence.
“I started experiencing hot flashes and night sweats about five to six years ago and they started to become more frequent and more severe,” the 59-year-old shares.
These symptoms started to disrupt Reuben’s life, affecting both personal relationships and her career in show business.
“I often found myself in the makeup chair experiencing a hot flash and apologizing to the makeup artist, tinged with a little embarrassment, even though it’s a natural process. I would have to adjust accordingly, being in front of the camera and feeling a hot flash coming up, I would become distracted, kind of pulled out of the scene, if you will. So, that was disruptive,” Reuben recalls.
The vasomotor symptoms (VMS) also began to impact Reuben’s wardrobe choices.
“Sometimes, I would be very, very hyperconscious about what wardrobe I would choose, as I was worried about potentially having a hot flash while wearing wool or a suit,” she adds.
Experiencing vasomotor symptoms like hot flashes and night sweats can also disrupt even the simplest activities, a lesson Reuben learned firsthand.
“Whether it be out with friends or on a date, if a hot flash were to arise again, it would kind of take me out of the situation. Needless to say, night sweats would be the same; the disruption in sleep was impacting pretty much every area of my life,” she shares. Like many women, Reuben assumed these symptoms were something she had to endure as a woman entering her menopausal years.
Thankfully, Reuben discovered VEOZAH, an FDA-approved treatment option that’s 100% hormone-free, which she credits to her fewer hot flashes and night sweats. “Because of that, I worry less, have less anxiety, and feel more free, whether at work, in my personal life, or no matter what,” she says.
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Breaking the Silence
Reuben’s success with VEOZAH has led her to collaborate with Astellas, the drug’s creator, to increase awareness about
