British actress Olivia Williams is touching upon her menopause journey.
The 58-year-old, who also starred in The Crown, admitted she is expediting strange symptoms of age.
Speaking with Page Six at the premiere of “The Good Daughter” on Tuesday, Williams said: “I forgot someone’s name, which is a recognized condition in my world.”
She quipped: “Can’t remember names, used to be quite good and now I can’t.”
“You feel the pressure, but that stuff is usually said behind closed doors,” she explained. “Every working day begins with an hour in front of a mirror; you have to sit and look at yourself in the makeup chair, and if you can’t deal with that, then you’re headed to the surgeon.”
Speaking about her movie, Williams said: “The community of the cast and the community of the crew was really extraordinary,” Williams raved. “We had a woman director, a woman director of photography, a woman AV, a woman writer; it’s a story about women.”
During an interview with The Times, the actress shared her journey that she faced multiple health issues including prolonged fatigue, chronic diarrhea, and limb aches.
But her case was first misdiagnosed with lupus and perimenopause, and it took four years after the cancerous tumour was found in her pancreas in 2018.
“If someone had ****** well diagnosed me in the four years I’d been saying I was ill, when they told me I was menopausal or had irritable bowel syndrome or [was] crazy,” the 56-year-old said.
She continued, “I used that word advisedly because one doctor referred me for a psychiatric assessment — then one operation possibly could have cleared the whole thing and I could describe myself as cancer-free, which I cannot now ever be.”
It took “21 doctor visits” to correctly diagnose the issue. Despite the removal of the initial tumour, the cancer had spread to other parts of the body.
“I go in like a puppy with this optimistic, bright face and then they give me bad news and it’s like, ‘Oh my God, I fell for it again,'” she said.
“They’ve found new metastases pretty well either just before Christmas or in the middle of a summer holiday,” the actress noted.
