EXCLUSIVE: Sofía Vergara and Octavia Spencer Open Up About Aging and Struggles After 50
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Sofía Vergara and Octavia Spencer open up about menopause, aging, and why sleep becomes harder after 50 — and how listening to your body earlier can change everything.
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Octavia Spencer, who is living with type 2 diabetes and sharing her high blood pressure diagnosis publicly for the first time, has teamed up with Sofía Vergara for a new public health campaign, “Detect the SOS.” The commercial, airing Feb. 8, aims to encourage Americans with high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes to prioritize uACR screening.
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For Spencer, 55, the message is especially personal because her warning signs weren’t. “I actually haven’t listened to my body until recently,” she exclusively told LA Times Studios, noting that like many people, she didn’t seek answers until something felt wrong.
Her diagnosis came without obvious symptoms, and it reshaped how she thinks about prevention. “I suffer from type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure, both of which I didn’t know that I had,” she said. “Those things did not manifest in a very loud way for me.”
Vergara, echoed that same sense of urgency from a different angle, shaped by watching her mother navigate aging and chronic health risks. “I always want to be prepared. I always want to know. I always want to ask,” she said, describing how caregiving made her more attuned to what can happen behind the scenes. That, she shared, is what drew her to the campaign.
Together, their partnership is a reminder that many health threats can present themselves quietly, and that living well often begins with asking questions before anything might feel wrong.
Octavia Spencer reflects on weight loss, midlife health, and strength alongside Sofia Vergara, in their “Detect the SOS” mission featured in a Super Bowl commercial airing Feb. 8
As the conversation turned towards the future, both women described how aging has shifted, not just what they pay attention to, but what wellness actually means in midlife.
Vergara, now 53, said she’s become more aware of changes she never used to think about. “Age… you start feeling different and you start looking different,” she said.
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For her, one of the first signs wasn’t cosmetic, but physical. Recovery simply takes longer. “Jet lag, for example. I used to be able to travel immediately… go shower, change, and go to work,” she said. “Now you have to give me two days… because I’m dying,” she said laughingly. “I’m like, I don’t know where I am.” The shift, she explained, is tied closely to sleep. “You don’t recuperate as easy… now if you don’t sleep, you feel it.”
That’s why rest has become one of the wellness habits she protects most, even when it feels out of reach. “I want to sleep. I try, but I can’t,” Vergara said. “And now, with menopause and everything, it’s super hard.”
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Spencer agreed, sharing that menopause has reshaped her own relationship with sleep. “I’ve not always been a good sleeper and now menopause definitely affects it,” she said. “With good sleep... your body can recover.”
When asked whether it’s harder to fall asleep, stay asleep, or both, their answer was immediate. “All of the above,” Spencer said. “All of it,” Vergara added.
In other words, the wellness conversation they’re now having is less about getting everything “right” and more about noticing what their bodies truly need.
Click here to learn more about their mission: Detect the SOS
