'My ego told me that I was going to skip it': Halle Berry explains why she mistook perimenopause for herpes

Actress Halle Berry spoke about her health crisis in a candid talk with First Lady Jill Biden at the 'A Day of Unreasonable Conversation' summit on Monday, March 25.

The invite-only event was produced by the Hollywood Reporter and Invisible Hand, an agency aiming to connect the stalwarts of the entertainment industry with cultural changemakers. Halle Berry joined an illustrious line of speakers, including Jane Fonda, Kerry Washington, Paris Hilton, Cord Jefferson, and First Lady Jill Biden.

During the talk, Berry spoke about how her doctor's lack of awareness caused her to think she had herpes when she was actually going through perimenopause. She confided:

"First of all, my ego told me that I was going to skip it – 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."

The two went on to have a detailed discussion on how ignorance affected the Oscar-winning actress personally.

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Halle Berry mistook perimenopause for Herpes

Halle Berry has been working toward spreading awareness about menopause and other health issues that affect women for a long time. In her conversation with Jill Biden, she said that she aims to “change the way" society feels about "women during their midlife."

At the event, Berry and the First Lady discussed women's midlife issues like menopause and perimenopause and how society perceives them. This discussion came after President Joe Biden signed an executive order last week focused on improving women's health research.

The actress opened up about her experience with perimenopause, confiding that she once mistook it for herpes due to her doctor's lack of awareness.

Halle Berry explained how she met her life partner, Van Hunt, at 54 and the intricacies of their physical relationship. To this, Jill Biden joked that she didn't know about her story and certainly wasn't going to share details about her own intimate life.

The 57-year-old shared that she was going through extreme pain and discomfort after s*x, and her doctor diagnosed that as the worst case of herpes he'd ever seen.

Thereafter, Halle Berry and her partner got tested and found that neither had herpes. That was when she realized that she was going through perimenopause, and the 'dryness' confirmed it.

"My doctor had no knowledge and didn’t prepare me, 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," Berry said.

The two women ended the discussion with an appeal to the audience to help change the way society views women as they get older.

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The First Lady and Halle Berry's visit to the University of Illinois Chicago

The 'A Day of Unreasonable Conversation' talk was not the first time these two met to discuss women's health issues. Halle Berry and Jill Biden also visited UIC in January to spread awareness of the first-ever White House initiative to accelerate research on women's health in the country.

Halle Berry and Jill Biden highlighted the challenges women face within the healthcare system, especially concerning menopause. The latter addressed the general ignorance in this sector and lauded UIC's efforts to spread awareness of menopausal health. She remarked:

"Every woman will be affected by menopause; yet there’s a stunning lack of information about how to manage and treat its symptoms. UIC is working to change that."

The two also unveiled the groundbreaking research on menopause by Dr. Pauline Maki, Senior Director of Research at the Center for Research on Women and Gender at UIC.