Halle Berry is sharing how an STI misdiagnosis led to her realization that she was in perimenopause.
The “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum” actress shared her story during a conversation about women’s health with First Lady Jill Biden at the event A Day of Unreasonable Conversation on Monday, according to multiple outlets.
While discussing the topic of perimenopause, Halle shared that she once believed she could bypass the stage.
“My ego told me that I was gonna skip [menopause],” she said, per Yahoo Entertainment. “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.”
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View GalleryHalle then shared that when she was 54, she met “the man of [her] dreams,” boyfriend Van Hunt. While she said that everything was “great” with their sex life, she woke up one morning in a lot of pain.
“I feel like I have razor blades in my vagina. I run to my gynecologist and I say, ‘Oh my God, what’s happening?’ It was terrible,” she recalled, per People.
Halle said that when she went to see a doctor, he suggested her new relationship may had led to a herpes infection, telling her she had “the worst case of herpes [he’d] ever seen.”
When Halle brought the information to Van, he was surprised, and they both went on to test negative for herpes, meaning her symptoms had a different cause.
“I realize after the fact, that is a symptom of perimenopause … My doctor had no knowledge and didn’t prepare me,” she shared, according to People. “That’s when I knew, ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve got to use my platform. I have to use all of who I am, and I have to start making a change and a difference for other women.”
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