Halle Berry sat down with Drew Barrymore to talk about something every woman goes through: perimenopause.
The Catwoman star, 58, said when she first met her partner Van Hunt when she was 54, she was in a love bubble and everything was great.
Until one morning when she couldn’t urinate. It was so painful that it took her ‘almost 10 minutes to empty my bladder.’
She went right to the doctor who told her, ‘It’s a really bad case of herpes.’
The star and Hunt then started playing ‘the blame game’ trying to figure out who gave her the herpes.
Until a few hours later when her doctor called and told her she didn’t have herpes.
Halle Berry sat down with Drew Barrymore to talk about something every woman goes through: perimenopause.
Berry and Van Hunt are seen on February 18 in New York City
She asked him what was wrong with her and he said, ‘I don’t know.’
That caused a light bulb to go off in her head. She thought surely at age 54 she was well down the path to what generations of women have called The Change – menopause.
But she learned that perimenopause – the period leading up to menopause can last a decade for some women and start as early as in the late 30s.
She called what she was going through ‘dry vagina.’
‘We struggled with finding a way to have sex again, getting rid of the dryness, because it got pretty rough there for a minute,’ Halle said.
Drew responded: ‘If I may give a description it feels like sandpaper.’
Halle interjected: ‘Razor blades.’ Drew continued: ‘And so there’s also a tremendous mental game that goes with that. I don’t want to put myself through that.’
Drew went on to say that affects women’s partners as well, pointing out ‘they don’t know what you’re going through and that can cause a giant chasm in your relationship.’
The Catwoman star, 58, said when she first met her partner Van Hunt when she was 54, she was in a love bubble and everything was great
Until one morning when she couldn’t urinate. It was so painful that it took her ‘almost 10 minutes to empty my bladder’
She went right to the doctor who told her, ‘It’s a really bad case of herpes.’ She and Hunt then started playing ‘the blame game’ trying to figure out who gave her the herpes
‘We need more care, more conversation, more attention on it…so we can make it benign,’ Drew added.
‘Men have to also understand what’s going on and we as women have to have the courage to talk to our partners about it and what I’ve found is that most men want to be supportive.
‘But it takes us to be brave enough to invite them into the conversation.’
The Academy Award winning actress’ experience led her to start the company Respin.
Respin is Halle’s menopause and women’s health care platform which aims to redefine—or re-spin—the conversation around menopause and perimenopause.
She originally launched Respin in 2020 as a wellness platform but has now rebranded it to more directly target women’s health and longevity.
‘Menopause and perimenopause may be the entry point for women,’ Berry told Fortune.
The goal of Respin is to help women stay in their best health throughout the entirety of their life.’
Until a few hours later when her doctor called and told her she didn’t have herpes. Halle soon figured out she was suffering from perimenopause and one of its symptoms: dry vagina
Respin’s subscription based platform offers coaches and clinicians who can provide advice for managing menopause symptoms as well as access to a community of women who can help support one another.
The website’s description states: ‘AT RESPIN, we’re embracing what I believe is the biggest “respin” of all— menopause.
‘We’re building what I wish I’d had: a resource for women in the midst of menopause, on the cusp of it, or preparing for it.
‘Menopause impacts over half the world’s population, yet many women are met with shame, stigma, and inadequate care. This ends today.’
