Still, she’s loving this stage her son is in—noting “the teenage years are actually my favorite.”
“I got involved with PTSO at my son’s school,” Hilarie revealed. “And so for any other parent out there, I highly recommend that. Even if your kid’s like, ‘I don’t want you here,’ get involved because they need people in their lives who are not authority figures that are just loving members of the community.”
And it’s helped them find common ground.
“In hanging out with these preteens and teenagers every day, I think they’re no different than us,” the A Christmas Wish star explained. “We’re going through hormone changes, they’re going through hormone changes. Our workload is insane, their workload is insane. And so I think all those conflicts that can sometimes happen between parents and their children can really be eased when we realize we’re in the same boat, we’re doing the same thing.”
In fact, Hilarie said she’s “heard people refer to perimenopause and menopause as a second adolescence, and that really does seem accurate.” Now, she’s partnering with Olly to promote its Mellow Menopause supplements and sharing her own experience with perimenopause.
“So many people reacted by saying, ‘You’re too young, you’re too young,’” Hilarie recalled. “And so my job now is to come out and be a megaphone and say, ‘You’re not too young. If you’re having the symptoms, it is starting.’ And so the sooner you manage it, the sooner you can just keep kicking ass and you don’t have to go through that pitfall of trying to keep it a secret. I think a lot of women fall prey to that and we don’t have to.”