Why Brooke Burke Says Menopause Is ‘the Best Decade of My Life’

Every Monday morning, Brooke Burke hops on an intimate Zoom call at her desk, in the same casual manner as if she she were chatting with Flow Space, to chat with her thousands of Brooke Burke Body followers about their health and fitness struggles and wins of that week.

Between her home’s clean white aesthetic and her penchant for starting her day off drinking lemon water (really, she’s gotten stopped on the street because of the habit), she seems to be the picture of wellness.

However, most of us will never know the full truth of what goes on in her body under the surface—some days are purposefully much quieter in order for Burke to slow down and allow her body to recuperate.

Through her Instagram and online community, Burke, now 53, is an open book about her chronic health conditions. The TV host and fitness personality has been living with autoimmune conditions, including the thyroid condition Hashimoto’s disease, inflammatory bowel disease and the skin condition vitiligo, as well as the inner ear and vertigo-related condition Meniere’s disease, for years.

Burke’s push for answers about her conditions is the reason why she feels so well today and has her autoimmune symptoms under control now in her 50s. “I’ve become a detective of my own body, understanding my triggers [of my immune conditions] and how to take care of myself,” says Burke.

She’s become her own biggest advocate and health expert. This innate knowledge is what has led Burke to state that menopause is “the best decade of my life.” She understands her hormone levels and other biological rhythms so closely, which makes it easier for her to “know what’s coming” in regard to menopause symptoms.

It’s taken a while for her to get to that place, though.

Fighting for Validation and Diagnosis

Just as menopause can often be misdiagnosed and dismissed because of lack of awareness on the part of medical providers—estimates indicate that 15% of women receive a misdiagnosis for perimenopause and/or menopause symptoms, so can autoimmune conditions, especially in women. 80% of autoimmune diagnoses occur in women, and recent study results show that about a quarter of those people are likely to have more than one autoimmune condition. Gender bias in medicine can also to contribute to why women’s autoimmune (and menopause symptoms, for that matter) are dismissed and misdiagnosed, and why women have to fight to have their concerns validated in the doctor’s office.

Burke’s first autoimmune diagnosis of Hashimoto’s came right after the birth of her second daughter, Sierra, now 23, when Burke had not even hit 30 herself.

“I was chronically fatigued, working a lot and trying to get the best quality sleep as possible and go through the motions of normal life as a new mom,” Burke says. The feedback she received from medical professionals—even the doctor she was married to at the time—was that it was normal fatigue of trying to work and do so many things while having an infant and a toddler.

The blood panel testing she insisted on having revealed otherwise: Her thyroid hormone levels were significantly lower than normal, caused by the autoimmune condition Hashimoto’s.

As Burke began to settle into a routine of caring for both her children and her thyroid condition with medication, she had another health scare, in the midst of a season of hosting Dancing with the Stars.

“There were zero signs and zero symptoms,” Burke says of her diagnosis with thyroid cancer in 2012. At one point, her endocrinologist detected a tiny nodule in her neck, which prompted Burke to get a biopsy. The first biopsy came back inconclusive, and she felt uncomfortable just waiting it out.

After a push for a second opinion, Burke got more biopsies, confirming her cancer diagnosis. Wanting to feel as though she was being as proactive as possible, Burke trusted her gut and got a total thyroidectomy to remove the entire thyroid gland out of an abundance of caution. She’s now cancer-free, and her thyroid symptoms are under control. However, this experience pushed Burke to be even more vigilant about her health.

Close to ten years ago, she was diagnosed with another autoimmune condition: inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Though she had some digestive symptoms, it wasn’t until she had a major flareup accompanied by difficulty absorbing nutrients that she received the official diagnosis. Trying to exercise, work her hosting gigs and keep her IBD under control became a challenge—to the point where she was getting a colonoscopy every year and back pedaling to stay ahead of her symptoms so they did not develop into Crohn’s disease.

She later shared her other diagnoses: Meniere’s disease (not technically an autoimmune condition), which stems from a fluid imbalance in the inner ear and can cause dizziness, nausea and other uncomfortable symptoms. Her fourth diagnosis came because of one of her children—her daughter Rain, 16—was found to have vitiligo, and Burke noticed that she also had some patches of skin discoloration.

‘My Body Has So Many Messages’

Thyroid medication keeps Burke’s Hashimoto’s on track (even though her thyroid has been removed), and she has an “intense” IV infusion every eight weeks of Remicade, which allows her to function with IBD. She spoke out on her Instagram last year about her infusion days being her least favorite, health-wise, and how they force her to slow down. “Because I am resting and recovering and listening to my body, I haven’t left my hotel room… Today is a day that’s non-negotiable for me,” Burke told followers.

“I do not compromise my wellness rituals,” she tells Flow Space. Those include rising during the “golden zone” in her house, an hour before her family gets up, so she has time for meditation, journaling and her red light therapy mask. She heads to the kitchen for her vitamin C and digestion-boosting lemon water routine, which is a precursor to her coffee, workout and occasional lymphatic drainage massage to further support her gut health.

This routine allows her to set the tone for the day as a slower one, so she has enough time and space to listen to her body and what it needs. “My body has so many messages—I lock into my body language, through meditation and yoga, which gives me a greater sense of awareness, clarity, rest and recovery, stillness, and gratitude,” says Burke. “We’re just moving so fast, grinding as a culture of powerful women, it’s so much. I’m passionate that if you slow down, you can hear your body whispering before it starts screaming,” she adds. For Burke, that sometimes means giving into sleepiness and skipping out on social events in favor of a full night’s rest.

She’s over being in overdrive. “Now I really understand the value of pace, and give myself a lot of grace to do that,” says Burke. She even sets boundaries with her children, including that her wellness practices are her time and her time alone—modeling the behavior she hopes they’ll emulate.

‘Be Curious, and Stay Curious’

Burke makes it clear that she isn’t here to give out medical advice. “I want to inspire people to be curious and stay curious,” she says. With her four kids, she’s made a point to emphasize that it’s not a given that they’ll inherit her autoimmune conditions. “I don’t want to put that in their psyche,” adds Burke.

She encourages being a detective of your own body by “dropping into your intuition.”

That starts with getting as much medical information as you can access, starting with baseline bloodwork so you better understand your hormone levels and scheduling other regular preventative tests like colonoscopies and mammograms. “Then if I know, I can meet those challenges with knowledge and empowerment,” Burke says. She’s always going to advocate for a second medical opinion, especially if you don’t feel like the medical providers you’ve seen are giving you the full respect of answering all your questions.

When it comes to both midlife health and especially autoimmune and other chronic conditions, Burke underscores the value of community. We’ve seen the rise of perimenopause and menopause-related digital communities, including Dr. Mary Claire Haver’s The ‘Pause Life, perimenopause app Perry, Halle Berry’s Respin Inner Circle, and 40+ event series and longevity-focused online hub The Swell. This further proves how much women really need each other to compare notes and find similarities when going through these health milestones.

Burke’s Monday morning free meeting for followers is a similar type of space for women to connect, share their symptoms and, most importantly, be heard. “Other women are going through the same thing you are—and there’s freedom in knowing that you’re not alone,” Burke says.