The ageing pin-up insists it's nothing for women to fear - and has become the spokesperson for talkingtoyourdoctor.com, a website dealing with women's health issues.

She says, "I'm in menopause and it's not like a curse. It's not the plague. And it's about damn time that somebody says it because 40 million women in America are in menopause.

"Are they supposed to be embarrassed or humiliated? Please, I've had enough of that."

CHERYL LADD at NBC's "Las Vegas" Cocktail Party held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel Beverly Hills, California - 24.07.05