Courteney Cox updates groundbreaking tampon advert for menopause

Courteney Cox played Monica in TV sitcom Friends from 1994 to 2004

Nine years before Courteney Cox starred in Friends, she gained another claim to fame - as the first person to use the word "period" in a US TV commercial.

Now, the actress has offered an updated version of that 1985 tampon advert.

The new take, posted to Instagram, finds the 58-year-old paraphrasing her younger self, swapping period problems for menopausal misery.

"Did your life completely change because of menopause?" asks Cox, parodying the original commercial.

"Still getting hot flashes?

"Let me tell it to ya straight," adds Cox, while recreating the original's locker room scene.

"Menopause will change the way you feel about getting older. Menopause will eat you alive. It's horrible. Nothing else can do that."

Cox goes on to explain how the menopause brings "the added bonus of drier skin, and getting bald patches".

"Now that's something," she declares, beaming with positivity, in the style of the original advert but with more world-weary sarcasm.

She signs off: "Remember - there is nothing good about menopause. It can actually change the way you feel about getting older."

The video has been liked almost a million times, including by other TV and film stars like Juliette Lewis, Julianne Moore and Drew Barrymore.

Earlier this year, Cox spoke to the Sunday Times about how she had slowly "learned to embrace" getting older after having unsuccessfully dabbled with facial fillers.

"There was a time when you go, 'Oh, I'm changing. I'm looking older'," she explained. "And I tried to chase that [youthfulness] for years.

"And I didn't realise that, oh, I'm actually looking really strange with injections and doing stuff to my face that I would never do now."

Other US celebrities who have spoken about the menopause in recent times include Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and Oprah Winfrey.

What are some of the symptoms of menopause?

• Anxiety

• Low mood

• Depression

• Mood swings

• Crying spells

• Brain fog

• Loss of confidence

• Poor concentration

• Poor memory

• Loss of joy

Source: Victoria Howell, Menopause Services

• Nine tips to help you cope with the menopause - BBC Woman's Hour

In July, UK MPs said women going through the menopause should be given greater rights and protection in the workplace.

The Women and Equalities Committee said a lack of support in the UK was pushing women out of work.

The cross-party group wants menopause to become a protected characteristic like pregnancy, to give working women more rights.

Offering menopause leave should also be piloted at a large public-sector employer, the MPs said.