Halle Berry Recalls Her Doctor Saying She Had ‘The Worst Case Of Herpes’ He’d Ever Seen; She Later Discovered It Was Perimenopause!

Cousins! Halle Berry recently opened up about a chaotic health scare that led her to learn more about the symptoms of perimenopause!

In a conversation with First Lady Jill Biden during Propper Daley’s fourth “A Day of Unreasonable Conversation” summit, Halle spoke on her experience with menopause and the importance of educating herself on women’s health, reports PEOPLE.

The actress recalled her doctor misdiagnosing her symptoms of perimenopause for what he had determined as the “worst case of herpes” he’d ever seen.

“First of all, my ego told me that I was going to skip [perimenopause],” said Halle. “I’m in great shape. I’m healthy. I managed to get myself off of insulin and manage my diabetes since I’m 20 years old. So that makes one think, oh, I can handle menopause. I’m going to skip that whole thing. I was so uneducated about it at that time.”

Halle says that she had met the man of her dreams when she began dating award-winning musician Van Hunt and that as the two began to have sexual intercourse she experienced extreme pain. That’s when the actress says she visited the doctor to seek help for her issue.

“I feel like I have razor blades in my vagina. I ran to my gynecologist and I said, ‘Oh my God, what’s happening?’ It was terrible,” she recalled, teasing that she has “no shame” in sharing her story because it can help other women. “He said, ‘You have the worst case of herpes I’ve ever seen.’ I’m like, ‘Herpes? I don’t have herpes!’” 

Halle says she then confronted Van and they both got tested. The results came back negative and determined neither of them had contracted any sexually transmitted diseases.

“I realize after the fact, that is a symptom of perimenopause,” said Halle while noting that dryness is a symptom of the perimenopause. “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.”

Halle expressed that her own experiences led her to utilize her platform to, “help change the way culture views women at this stage of our life.” 

Back in 2023, Halle shared with Women’s Health magazine that she is not surrendering to society’s expectations regarding menopause.

“Challenging all those stereotypes about how you have to look a certain way or feel a certain way” while she’s “smack dab in the middle of menopause.”

“I am challenging everything I thought I knew about menopause. Things like: ‘Your life is over.’ ‘You are disposable.’ ‘Society no longer has a place for you.’ ‘You should retire.’ ‘You should pack it up,’