Joe Wicks reveals his mother's debilitating menopause symptoms forced her to quit her job as a social worker because she was 'losing her rag'

The online fitness sensation opened up about his mum's ordeal for the first time READ MORE: Can Joe Wicks change my life in 15 minutes? 

Joe Wicks has revealed personal details about his mother’s menopause journey, including how her symptoms became so bad, she was forced to quit her job.

The social media fitness sensation, 38, opened up about his mum’s ordeal for the first time during an Instagram Q&A with best-selling author and wellness coach Kate Rowe-Ham.

He told Kate, a wellness coach and the author of Owning Your Menopause: Fitter, Calmer, Stronger in 30 Days, that his mother Raquela Mosquera, 58, ‘lost her rag’ while trying to juggle her social worker job with ‘difficult’ menopause symptoms.

Epsom-born Joe said: ‘My mum was working as a social worker and my mum’s so loving, so compassionate, so understanding and so patient.

Joe Wicks has opened up about his mother's menopause journey, including how her symptoms became so bad, she was forced to quit her job (pictured: Joe, 38 with mum, Raquela Mosquera, 58)

Joe Wicks has opened up about his mother’s menopause journey, including how her symptoms became so bad, she was forced to quit her job (pictured: Joe, 38 with mum, Raquela Mosquera, 58)

During an Instagram Live session, he doted on his Italian mum, who he said 'lost her rag' while trying to juggle her social worker job with 'difficult' menopause symptoms (pictured: Joe (left) with his brother Nikki and mum Raquela in 1989)

During an Instagram Live session, he doted on his Italian mum, who he said ‘lost her rag’ while trying to juggle her social worker job with ‘difficult’ menopause symptoms (pictured: Joe (left) with his brother Nikki and mum Raquela in 1989)

‘And through those months, she said, “I just couldn’t handle it, I couldn’t deal with it, I was losing my rag”, and she walked away from the job.

‘It was too much for her and it’s a shame that, maybe if she’d had the right advice or help through that, she might have stuck with it’.

The fitness expert, who shares three children with wife Rosie, also said he felt menopause went beyond physical symptoms, as it also affected women’s ‘mental health’.

Kate educated Joe Wicks’ community of followers about health and fitness during the menopause after the exercise guru recounted his mum’s experiences.

During the Instagram Live conversation on on Tuesday evening, he and Kate were praised for discussing menopause and throwing light on both symptoms and ways to tackle the often debilitating time of life, which currently affects around 13 million women in the UK.

When Kate, 47, started perimenopause in her early forties and found herself derailed by debilitating physical and emotional symptoms, she began exploring holistic solutions after realising that hormone replacement therapy (HRT) was not the ‘magic fix’ she had hoped it would be.

Changing how she exercised – swapping HIIT workouts for weight training to keep cortisol levels lower – plus tweaking what she ate and drank, Kate began feeling energised and in time launched a digital platform to educate, inspire and empower other women to positively and confidently navigate their way through the menopause.

The mum-of-three, who describes her book as a ‘no-nonsense menopause manual’ said: ‘I’m a determined little fish in a big pond and knowing that my small voice is helping so many people is the biggest dream come true.

The fitness expert, who shares three children with wife Rosie, also spoke of the mental health struggles women face during menopause

The fitness expert, who shares three children with wife Rosie, also spoke of the mental health struggles women face during menopause

‘I don’t want any women to suffer what I went through and I want people to know that when these life-changing symptoms of menopause hit like a juggernaut, there’s hope and solutions.

‘It’s also really important that we make the conversation around menopause less of a taboo’.

The news comes as Britain’s economy could be losing out on billions each year because of a lack of support for women experiencing the menopause, analysis suggests.

Amid the Government’s back to work drive, campaigners said ministers needed to act so women were no longer expected to ‘just get on with it’.

They are calling for change so that menopause symptoms – such as poor memory and hot flashes – do not lead to women reducing their hours or falling out of employment altogether.

Research suggests one in ten women who worked during the menopause left a job due to their symptoms.

Now analysis by Labour, shared with the Daily Mail, suggests the loss of these women from the workforce is costing the country £11 billion a year.

The party’s spokesman for women and equalities, Anneliese Dodds, said a failure to provide sufficient support was ‘holding our economy back’.

Ms Dodds said the country ‘can’t really afford’ not to unlock the economic potential of all women.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt launched a drive last year to get over-50s back to work, describing it as ‘a time when you can make an enormous contribution’.

But research by the Fawcett Society – which campaigns for women’s rights – suggests menopause symptoms were leading to scores of women leaving the workforce when easy changes to uniform, office temperatures and more flexible hours could easily help.

A 2022 report found that ‘one in ten women who have been employed during the menopause have left work due to menopause symptoms’.

Mapped on to the UK population, that would represent an estimated 333,000 women leaving their jobs.

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