Melinda French Gates has revealed a difficult personal experience with perimenopause, stating that it took three doctors to receive an accurate diagnosis and appropriate treatment. The 61-year-old philanthropist discussed her health journey on Norah O'Donnell's Healthful podcast, noting that her symptoms began in her early 40s.
Despite her access to what she described as some of the best healthcare globally, French Gates recounted the struggles she faced. "It was kind of unbelievable to me that even in this unbelievably privileged situation I'm in, where I feel like I can get some of the best health care, it took me three doctors to really diagnose what I was going through and to get the right treatments for [me]," she said.
French Gates credited a network of older friends for helping her identify potential symptoms. "Thank goodness I have older friends, we would walk every Monday and hearing their stories kind of eight or nine years ahead of mine, I knew what to watch for," she explained.
She expressed surprise upon learning it was perimenopause, as she had recently had her last child. "I couldn't believe it because I had just finished having my last child in my late 30s," she shared. "I thought, 'Are you kidding me?'"
French Gates pointed to a lack of specialized training among medical professionals as a contributing factor. "It's because only one-third of OB/GYNs in this country are trained in menopause," she stated.
She suggested that such issues may hinder women's advancement into senior leadership roles, noting that "one in 10 women step back from the workforce during their years of perimenopause or menopause because of severe symptoms that they're experiencing."
In a June op-ed for The New York Times titled "Women, We Deserve Better Than This," French Gates called for a "menopause revolution." She argued that women's health has long been an "afterthought" and that societal assumptions about whose bodies are worth understanding need to change. Through her Pivotal Philanthropies Foundation, she has committed over $600 million to women's health initiatives in the past two years, including an additional $215 million toward this cause.