Lisa Curry has spoken candidly about the impact perimenopause had on her marriage to former Ironman champion Grant Kenny.
The high-profile couple, once considered Australian sporting royalty, separated in 2009 after 23 years of marriage and three children together.
Speaking on the Healthy Her podcast, Curry said hormonal changes during perimenopause affected both her emotional wellbeing and her relationship.
“There were days when I was exhausted and there were days I know my ex-husband would say ‘My God, you were a cranky, irritable, irrational, moody, sweaty, teary b—h’,” she said.
“At the time, just things start to annoy the crap out of you.
“There were days when you just think, ‘I don’t even know why I’m married. ‘I don’t even know why you exist. I don’t know why I exist?’
“That’s what perimenopause and menopause does to your brain cells.”
Curry said she later came to understand the role hormones had played in the emotional turmoil she experienced.
“You lose yourself, you lose your confidence, you lose your relationship, you lose love for the person that you know… that you wanted to be in love with for the rest of your life. And it’s kind of not fair,” she said.
“And I remember my husband looking at me one day and I thought, ‘Oh my God, I can see that he thinks I’m the devil. And I seriously thought he could see that in me.
“I saw it and he saw it because that wasn’t me.
“And now I know it was my hormones. But at the time, I had no idea.”
The 64-year-old said awareness around perimenopause was far more limited at the time and recalled seeking help from her doctor, only to feel dismissed.
“I guess he thought he was being pretty funny,” Curry said after revealing a GP once prescribed her a “maid and a massage”.
“Because they didn’t know either. I mean, we didn’t even talk about perimenopause back in those days.
“But I didn’t know what it was and I didn’t have a name for it. The doctor didn’t have a name for it.”
Curry said she first heard the term “perimenopause” only six or seven years ago.
“You think of these huge generations of women that have come before us that not only didn’t have a name for it but also it was hushed, and it was something not to be spoken about,” she said.
She also praised journalist Shelly Horton for helping raise awareness of the condition.
Since retiring from swimming, Curry has become a wellness and mental health advocate, founding the business Happy Healthy You and speaking publicly about grief following the death of her daughter, Jaimi Kenny, in 2020.
Curry married entertainer Mark Tabone in 2018, with the couple renewing their vows in Fiji earlier this year.
