Lisa Ann Walter was "too embarrassed" to admit she had started the menopause

The 60-year-old actress - who stars as Melissa Schemmenti on the Emmy-nominated series 'Abbott Elementary' - opened up about coming to the end of her natural reproductive cycle and wants "shame-based" attitudes towards it to change. She told People: "Getting older as a female in this country has got to become something that is not the punchline or a topic that's shameful. "I don't know anybody in my mother's generation that spoke openly about menopause. They kind of refer to it in these hushed tones - it's like when people used to talk about periods like the curse. "Anything that has to do with being a woman is somehow connected to something that's shame-based. "I was too embarrassed to say, 'No, I'm not nervous. I'm just old and having a hot flash.' "Women are sort of forced into maintaining youth or the illusion of youth. It's completely unfair and then you discount all of the wonderful things that go with being mature and experienced and the wisdom that goes along with all of that." The 'Parent Trap' star - who has Jordan, 36, and Delia, 32, with ex-husband Sam Baum as well as 23-year-old twins Spencer and Simon from a different relationship - recalled some advice her mother had given her on going through the change and has held onto it to this day. She added: "She said, 'You know, Lis, I don't feel any different on the inside than when I was like a 17-year-old standing in the hallway of my high school. Inside I feel like the same person. I know I'm getting older, I have a mirror, but I don't feel any different. "And I say for myself personally, I kept that with me."