Halle Berry remembers her herpes scare that was actually perimenopause

Halle Berry wants to change the conversation around menopause — one misdiagnosis story at a time.

On Monday, at the fourth Proper Daley Summit titled “A Day of Unreasonable Conversation,” the Oscar-winning actress joined First Lady Dr. Jill Biden for a conversation about women's health. At the end of their conversation, Perry — who got candid Defending For Menopause Awareness – She surprised Biden and the public alike by being candid about the painful story behind the perimenopausal diagnosis.

“First of all, my ego told me I was going to get over it,” Perry began the people. “I'm in good shape. I'm healthy. I've been able to get off insulin and manage diabetes since I was 20. It makes you think: 'Oh, I can handle menopause.' I'll just get through this whole thing.” I wasn't very educated about it. This matter at that time.

She then referenced her relationship with singer-songwriter Van Hunt, whom she began dating in 2020. Perry described the Grammy Award-winning musician as “the man of my dreams,” and explained that after a painful sexual intercourse experience, she visited her doctor for an explanation. .

“I feel like I have razor blades in my vagina. I ran to my gynecologist and said, 'Oh my God, what's going on?'” “It was terrible,” she recalls. “He said, 'You have the worst case of herpes I've ever seen.' I'm like, “Herpes?” I don't have herpes!

Perry said she immediately confronted Hunt about her herpes concerns, but when the couple took an STD test, their results came back negative.

“I realized after the fact that this was a symptom of perimenopause,” the actress continued, explaining how the incident inspired her advocacy. “My doctor had no knowledge and didn't prepare me. That's when I realized, 'Oh my God, I have to use my platform.' I have to use everything that I am, and I have to start making a change and a difference for other women.”

Perimenopause refers to a transitional period before menopause, when the female ovaries gradually begin to produce less estrogen. according to Hollywood ReporterPerry told the room that with her advocacy she aims to change “the way women and men feel about women during midlife and how they feel about this — which was a dirty little phrase — menopause, menopause.”

She added: “This can't just be a story of doom and gloom. “This is a glorious time of life.”

Other speakers at the event included Kerry Washington, Jane Fonda, Paris Hilton, and recent Oscar winner Cord Jefferson.

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