Halle Berry is speaking up about the terrifying revelations about her body that came from a terrifying health scare.
According to People and The Hollywood Reporter, Berry opened up about her perimenopause experience during a women's health discussion with First Lady Jill Biden at Monday's A Day of Unreasonable Conversation summit in Los Angeles. This exclusive event aims to bring together cultural changemakers and television content creators in an effort to promote more diverse representation in the media; THR is a media partner.
First of all, my ego told me that I was going to skip (perimenopause) — I’m very safe, I’m healthy, I managed to get myself off of insulin and manage my diabetes since I’m 20 years old," said Berry. “Oh, I can handle menopause” is the mentality one gets into as a result. I intend to disregard that entire matter. When I was younger, I knew very little about it.
A woman's perimenopause begins one year before her last menstrual period and continues for another twelve months afterward, commonly known as the menopause transition. The average age of menopause is between 45 and 55 years old, although perimenopause typically begins a few years prior to this.
Berry revealed that she became aware of her perimenopause unknowingly when she started experiencing "extreme pain" after having sex; she is dating singer-songwriter Van Hunt. Berry claimed that the "Moonfall" star was misdiagnosed with the STD herpes, even though she did go to the doctor to get to the bottom of the matter.
From what Berry recalled, "I feel like I have razor blades in my vagina," the author concluded. I tell my gynecologist, 'Oh my God, what's happening?' and I dash to see her. That was awful. You have the most severe case of herpes that I have ever seen, he exclaimed. How about herpes? "I am not a herpes patient!" Subsequent herpes testing revealed both Berry and Hunt were free of the virus.
Berry stated, "I realized after the fact that is a symptom of perimenopause," in reference to the misdiagnosed vaginal dryness. I was unprepared since my doctor lacked knowledge. What a revelation! I immediately realized I needed to make the most of my platform. I need to stop being a shell of my former self and start creating an impact on the lives of other women.
Later on, Berry posted images to Instagram from the meeting, where she again thanked Biden for her "groundbreaking work for women's health issues." "So grateful to continue the conversation on a topic that is near and dear to my heart and one that affects half the entire population," said Berry.
Stay turned for development