Jessica Biel admits to being ‘shocked’ by how little she knew about her own body until trying to start a family with her husband Justin Timberlake.
The 42-year-old actress, whose new book aims to destigmatize and normalize the conversation around menstruation, made the revelation while discussing which of her own life experiences that led her down the path to becoming an author.
‘I was probably in my 30s when I was married and we were thinking about trying to start a family, and that’s when all these questions came up. It wasn’t as easy as I thought it was going to be,’ the mother-of-two told People.
The Candy star shares sons Silas, nine, and Finneas, three, with Timberlake.
Because talking about periods has often been a taboo topic, the Limetown star said, at times, she still feels uncomfortable talking about them.
Jessica Biel, 42, is tackling a difficult topic in her first children’s book, A Kids Book About Periods
That’s why she feels her book, A Kids Book About Periods, is important for children to read.
‘I mean, even now I’m still working on feeling confident saying to, I don’t know, a colleague or someone like, “Excuse me, I really need to use the restroom. I need to change my tampon. I really need to go right now.” I still have trouble just outwardly saying that, and that’s really not okay with me.’
The actress said having the knowledge she has now may help other.
‘When I was in that phase of my life where I was really trying to build my family, I was shocked at how little I knew,’ she explained.
‘I mean, I knew the basics. I’d been dealing with the basics forever. But as I got older, things were changing and my cycle was different and I wasn’t getting pregnant. What was going on? And I had a lot of trouble the second time getting pregnant as well.’
‘I didn’t know where to turn. And I kept coming up on people who I knew, loved and admired and respected, who also had questions. It just kept in my mind going, “How is it possible that all of us have all these questions?””
‘I thought it was just me, I thought I was this idiot,’ she said, ‘And then it just kind of became clear that a lot of us don’t know enough about our bodies.’
Part of that is due to the lack of research about women and lack of knowledge about women’s bodies as a whole.
A 2021 study analyzing federal funding found that twice as much money was invested in studying diseases that primarily affect men, compared to diseases that primarily affect women, according to the National Institutes of Health.
The actress revealed she and husband Justin Timberlake, 43, had difficulty getting pregnant and that difficulty lead her to study the topic of menstruation (Pictured in Los Angeles in May 2022)
Timberlake seen kissing her baby bump in 2015 while pregnant with her first child
The couple are parents to sons Silas, nine, and Finneas, three
Biel’s research lead her to the non-profit group Period.org, with whom she formed a partnership to write the book. The organization works to end period poverty and period stigma through advocacy, education, and service. She also worked with the media company A Kids Co.
‘I wanted to cover all the really technical things that happen because I really believe that our kids are capable and we don’t give them enough credit about what they can understand,’ she told the outlet.
‘Telling the truth about my own experience, hoping to inspire other people to feel confident telling their truthful stories, and then telling the facts of, “This is what it is.” Can we change our mind around it? Can we realize that the process of having a menstrual cycle is powerful and absolutely incredible?’
Biel teamed up with the non-profit group Period.org and media company A Kids Co. to write the book
‘I wanted to cover all the really technical things that happen because I really believe that our kids are capable and we don’t give them enough credit about what they can understand,’ the actress said
Biel has been doing media rounds promoting the book, and she’s getting some push back on social media for the title.
‘Girl book not kids. Only girls have periods!!!’ exclaimed on fan.
‘I’m confused right off the bat about why the word “girl“ is obviously avoided,’ stated another.
According to Planned Parenthood, intersex people who people are born with and extra chromosome, or develop, biological sex characteristics that are not typically male or female, also have periods.
The United Nations estimates that 1.7 percent of the global population is born intersex.