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<\/p>\nSTEPS star Claire Richards has said she experiences "rages out of nowhere" after suffering with crippling perimenopause symptoms.<\/p>\n
The 46-year-old star said perimenopause left her feeling "awful" and caused her to fly off the handle after being struck by bouts of anxiety.<\/p>\n
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Claire, who is mum to kids Charlie, 16, and Daisy, 13, with husband Reece, 52, said: "It started slowly last summer and then all of a sudden there was no ignoring it.<\/p>\n
"I started to feel absolutely exhausted and my anxiety was out of control. <\/p>\n
"I also got these rages out of nowhere. I'm not usually confrontational at all, but every time Igot in the car I thought I was going to kill somebody. <\/p>\n
"My poor kids! I was beeping and shouting at people and telling them they shouldn't be on the road. <\/p>\n
"I would feel this rage and anxiety in the pit of my stomach and it would creep up and out and it was hard to breathe. It was awful."<\/p>\n Perimenopause means "around menopause". <\/p>\n It refers to the time during which your body makes the natural transition to menopause, thus marking the end of a woman's reproductive years.<\/p>\n A woman may begin transitioning sometime in her 40s. However, this transitional period happens at a different age for every woman, and it could happen as early as mid-30s<\/p>\n Throughout the menopausal transition, some subtle \u2014 and some not-so-subtle \u2014 changes in your body may take place. You might experience:<\/p>\n Earlier this year Claire spoke to The Sun about her early career in Steps saying she was asked to lose weight when she auditioned for the group.<\/p>\n She said: "We were of that era of\u00a0\u2018heroin chic\u2019\u00a0\u2014 everyone had no hips and no boobs.<\/p>\n \u201cI had shape and I remember I was aware of my bum in\u00a0tight outfits. I would tie a hoodie around my waist, which probably made it look a lot worse.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n When she auditioned for Steps in 1997 as a slim size ten,\u00a0Claire\u00a0revealed she was told: \u201cWe love you, we want you to be in the band, but we need you to lose weight if you want to be in it.\u201d<\/p>\n She added: \u201cIt wasn\u2019t right then and it absolutely isn\u2019t right now.<\/p>\n \u201cBut when you are young and you\u2019re being offered that kind of opportunity \u2014 and the only stipulation is that you\u00a0lose half a stone\u00a0\u2014 I think any young girl would.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite a nine-year break in the Noughties, Claire and bandmates Lee Latchford-Evans, 48, Lisa Scott-Lee, 47, Faye Tozer, 47, and\u00a0Ian \u201cH\u201d Watkins, 47, are still going strong scoring four UK No1 albums in their 25-year career.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I walked into a room now and someone told me to lose weight, I would absolutely tell them where to go \u2014 even if I thought I needed to lose it \u2014 or if I didn\u2019t," she said.<\/p>\n \u201cI turned 46 this month and I feel great. I\u2019m not new to the game \u2014 I\u2019m confident.<\/p>\n \u201cSince going solo, I have never felt like anyone has made me feel as though I look like a haggard old witch, as much as I feel like it myself sometimes.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone is very kind and says I look great. I think the pressure almost comes from ourselves more than anything.<\/p>\n \u201cI do spend a lot of time and effort and money on trying to keep the appearance.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/DD-whatsapp-group-instructions-v2_COMP.jpg\")
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