Halle Berry shares how a doctor misdiagnosed her with an STI while she was going through perimenopause

Halle Berry shared the story of how she came upon she was going through perimenopause – and it began with a misdiagnosis of a sexually transmitted disease.

According to Hollywood reporterOscar-winning actress and first lady Jill Biden discussed menopause and ladies’s health – especially older women – during social impact agency Propper Daley’s fourth “Day of Unwise Talk” event on Monday in Los Angeles.

Addressing summit attendees, Berry, who has made a name for herself as a proponent of menopause awareness, said her goal is to alter how “women and men think about midlife women and what they think about it – what used to be a dirty word.” – menopause, perimenopause and we on this room must change it.

“It can’t just be a story of doom and gloom,” she added. “It’s a great time in life.”

Berry surprised Biden when she shared the story of how she discovered she was going through perimenopause, joking that her ego convinced her she would skip that stage of her life because she was healthy and protected.

However, she met the love of her life in partner Van Hunt, and three years ago – on the age of 54 – she had a lot of sex.

Berry remembers feeling excruciating pain after intercourse. She visited a doctor who told her she had the worst case of herpes he had ever seen.

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After tests showed that neither she nor Hunt had the virus, Berry realized the pain was a “symptom of perimenopause” resulting from the dryness that happens at that stage of life.

“My doctor had no knowledge and didn’t prepare me,” she said, noting that “that’s when I knew, ‘Oh my God, I have to use my platform; I need to use all of myself and start making a difference for other women.”

The conversation ended with Berry asking creators and Hollywood industry executives to “help us change the way the culture views women at this stage of our lives.”

Monday’s invitation-only event was intended to spread knowledge that can influence future on-screen stories and maintain narrative authenticity, in accordance with THR.

In addition to Berry and Biden, the day’s speakers and panelists included film icon Jane Fonda, “Insecure” showrunner Prentice Penny, recent Oscar winner Cord Jefferson and distinguished actress Kerry Washington, who addressed the present climate of polarization and the challenges facing before contact with people with different views. Her production company, Simpson Street, co-chaired the event.

“More than ever, we all need to talk to each other outside our comfort zones because we face enormous obstacles,” Washington said in her speech, “whether it is the climate crisis, the necessity for reasonably priced care, or war in Israel, Gaza and In Ukraine, the epidemic of loneliness has destroyed ideas about reality and truth; That’s a lot.”