6 months ago
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I’m a “the more you know” kind of person. I like to be prepared, especially when it comes to how my body works. I still have a few years to go before I start menopause – I just turned 40 – but I’ve already been on the lookout for any symptoms just so I know what to expect or look for. There’s so many things that women experience about their bodies in general that don’t really get talked about en masse. Some things may still be considered taboo while others may just be considered TMI. Honestly, I always appreciate when other women are willing to share some of the less common, or rather, less talked about symptoms.
Halle Berry did an event in Los Angeles with first lady Dr. Jill Biden earlier this week called A Day of Unreasonable Conversation. It engaged figures involved in politics, entertainment, and content creators in “critical discourse” on important issues. Halle and Dr. Biden were there to talk about women’s health and urge people to write more about it. Well, Halle, who is 57, certainly understood the assignment because she got right up there on stage with our first lady and started talking about a painful experience she had one morning after having “great sex” with her boyfriend Van Hunt. Her gyno thought she had herpes, but *surprise!* it ended up being one of those wild and wacky perimenopausal symptoms. Ahhh.
“First of all, my ego told me that I was gonna skip [menopause],” Berry said. “I’m in great shape. I’m healthy. … So that makes one think, Oh, I can handle menopause. I’m going to eat right, exercise, and I’m gonna skip that whole thing. You don’t skip it. But I was so [uneducated] at that time. I wish I knew then when I know now.”
As it turns out, an intimate moment with boyfriend Van Hunt led her to discover she was in perimenopause.
“So, I finally meet the man of my dreams, and I don’t know, some of you might know about my troubles with relationships,” Berry said as she poked fun at her three “failed” marriages. “At 54, I find my guy. Perimenopause is not even a thought on my mind ’cause I’m skipping it. Remember? So we’re having our thing, we’re having sex and everything is great. And I’m like, ‘Ah, the skies have opened up’ So one day, we’re having sex like normal.”
“I didn’t know she was gonna tell this,” Biden interjected, causing the audience to erupt in laughter. “We’re not talking about my [experience]!”
“So anyway, I have this great sex,” Berry continued. “I wake up in the morning, I go to the bathroom, and guess what? I feel like I have razor blades in my vagina.”
Biden interjected, “My daughter’s here in the audience.”
“It might happen to you if you’re not careful, but razor blades … it was terrible,” Berry said. The actress said she immediately went to her gynecologist, who further confused her as to what was going on. “He says, ‘Halle, you have a new guy right?’ I said ‘I do, I’m really excited.’ He said, ‘You messed up again … you have the worst case of herpes I have ever seen.”
Berry’s ob-gyn ran more tests but was convinced she had herpes. Berry said she went from the office to have a talk with Hunt — who was shocked as he said he does not have herpes. They both got tested.
“Neither one of us has herpes,” Berry said. “I realized, after the fact, that [the sensation] is a symptom of perimenopause.”
“I’m not making any comment,” Biden replied. Berry said she wished people warned her “there are things you can do to arrive at this time of life in a more elegant way.”
“My doctor had no knowledge and didn’t prepare me, that’s when I knew, ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve gotta use my platform. I have to use all of who I am and I have to start making a change and a difference,” she explained.
Biden agreed and added how it’s important “we hit it from the side of preventative” medicine. The first lady’s appearance came one week after President Joe Biden signed an executive order to expand research on women’s health care.
“We don’t have answers,” Biden declared, explaining she was given conflicting information as to whether hormone therapy is recommended for menopausal women.
“With all the money that you and President Biden are putting into play, we are going to have more information. We’re going to be able to live better, healthier, longer lives. Right now, women live longer than men. They do live in poor health,” Berry said at one point. “If you’re living in poor health, why live longer? What’s the point?”
Halle Berry is a badass for so many reasons, but mad props to her for getting up on stage with Dr. Biden and talking about this. I don’t think the First Lady had “talking to Halle Berry about menopause symptoms after sex” on her bingo card, but dang, Halle sure picked her platform well! She knew this was the perfect way to bring attention to the subject. And I do appreciate her sharing that this is a thing. Former supermodel Beverly Johnson also did a really informative interview a few years ago, talking about the ways her body changed when she started menopause.
When we hear women talking about menopause, we hear about hot flashes, insomnia, weight gain, and out-of-control emotions. And trust me, I am grateful to those women for speaking out about those symptoms because it will help prepare me for what lies ahead. I knew that hormonal changes can affect your sex drive, but I did not know that you could experience a burning sensation so bad that it could be mistaken for herpes. I was talking to a friend who is a few years older than I am and already in perimenopause and she told me that what Halle described has actually happened to her, too. Ahhh, like I said, the more you know, right? Believe me, I want to know.
