LONDON, ENGLAND: George Clooney's ex-girlfriend Lisa Snowdon has opened up about her struggles with menopause, saying it left her feeling so defeated that she contemplated suicide. The 51-year-old presenter and former model said her life was gravely impacted by the condition.
Snowdon, who dated the 62-year-old Hollywood hunk for five years after meeting on the sets of a Martini ad in 2000, said she struggled to focus at work due to the menopause symptoms that included night sweats and hot flushes, which kept her up at night and left her feeling sluggish and distracted in the daytime. She suffered yet another blow when doctors revealed she wouldn't be able to have a baby, after having previously undergone an abortion in her 20s and had a miscarriage in her early 40s.
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'I had days so dark'
In a conversation with Fabulous magazine, Snowdon explained that she hit rock bottom when the symptoms of menopause wreaked havoc in her life. “I had days so dark that I thought, ‘If this is what my life looks like, then I can’t do it,’” she told the outlet, adding, “I know a lot of women get to that stage where they feel they don’t want to be here any longer and, yes, there were definitely times where I was like: ‘I don’t think I can do this anymore’. I was just floored with overwhelming sadness and these dark moods. It’s taken the last 10 years to get a handle on what was happening to me. I went to rock bottom, but coming out the other side feels like a really powerful place to be.”
Snowdon then opened up about realizing she would never become a mother, in a biological sense. She told the magazine she took the difficult decision of having an abortion in her 20s during a relationship she knew wouldn't last. She conceived a "miracle baby" in her 40s but was heartbroken when she had a miscarriage.
The former model said she did consider IVF but doctors said her odds were thin. When she was told her menopause had ended her reproductive abilities, she recalled longing for a child she knew she could never conceive. “All my life, I thought I was going to be a mum," she said, adding, "I didn’t have any burning ambition to have a career, but I’ve always been maternal and I really wanted kids. But I just ran out of time, unfortunately. The decision was taken away from me.”
'George was charming'
Since 2017, Snowdown has been engaged to her boyfriend George Smart, who she said stood by her when she was experiencing symptoms of perimenopause. The couple reportedly had a romantic fling back when they both worked for MTV but parted ways at the time, only to be reunited again in 2016 and embark on a relationship that has lasted thus far. According to Snowdon, it wasn't until the second lockdown of 2020 that she consulted a menopause specialist and was administered HRT which helped ease hot flushes and night sweats and gave her more energy. Now, she hopes to speak out about menopause. She wants to help others identify symptoms and know that help was always available.
Speaking of her whirlwind romance with Clooney, Snowdon told The Sun in June 2022, "George was charming, a really nice man, good fun and we had a great time. It was quite wild," adding, "Sometimes I think it will be written on my tombstone — 'George Clooney once dated Lisa Snowdon.'" She admitted that she has lost touch with the Hollywood star over the years, but remains friends with his 'Ocean's Eleven' co-star Matt Damon.
