Halle Berry And Cory Booker Turn Up The Heat With Menopause Talk

Actress Halle Berry recently sat down with Senator Cory Booker to turn the heat up on discussing perimenopause and menopause, something that often carries a stigma.

Berry recently visited Capitol Hill to "get a bill passed that will be about providing more research so that doctors can get retooled."

Booker and Berry recently sat down to bring more awareness to perimenopause and menopause, something that isn't talked about quite enough and affects pretty much every woman.

"Every woman, if you live long enough, will go through menopause, and most women spend the longest period of their life in their premenopause or menopausal years, like three decades," Berry told Booker.

"So, for there to be no information for a situation that every woman goes through, and she spends a large majority of her life is absurd. It's really absurd to me."

Berry, 57, said a big part of the problem is that there's a stigma around talking about menopause, which is why she's getting involved and trying to "destigmatize it."

"When we reach this time in our life, these are our best years. So to think that we should pack it up or we should not take our health seriously or just white knuckle these years and not pay attention to all of the things going on in our body I think is a real problem," she said.

"And that's what most women do. We can't talk about it and when we go to our doctors to talk about it, only 13 percent of doctors even understand the menopausal body, so they can't even help really."

Berry said her friends were "starving" to talk about menopause and "not feel shame," and that they are all going through many of the same things.

Booker said that the medical profession and researchers seem to really focus more on men than women and that makes him angry.

"The stunning thing to me is that here we are in 2023 and some of the basic things you're advocating for here in Washington, we haven't seen bills like that passed," Booker said.

Berry said she thinks that all the women in the Senate will come together, whether republican or democrat, to back this bill, which will only be the second time in history that all the women in the Senate will back something together.

"The more we know, the more we can pass to the American public," Berry told Booker. "We need to understand how does menopause affect early onset Alzheimer's, or dementia, or Parkinson's disease, or heart disease, diabetes, and disproportionally, black and brown women suffer in a greater way so we have to understand the why of this and try to fix the problem more holistically."

Berry continued to explain that in order to fix something holistically, they have to know how to do that. She also said that many women don't fully understand the changes menopause can bring. It's not just about hot flashes and brain fog, because there are many other things going on in our bodies.

"And it seems like, and you said the word shame before, but there are people that might feel almost embarrassed to come forward and talk about things we should be talking about," Booker added.

In addition to not being aware of all the changes menopause can bring to a woman's life, there's also a racial disparity to keep in mind.

The bills that Berry is working on focuses on research, education and awareness of menopause. She also wants more discussion about how insurance should be covering more menopause treatments for women.

"If men went through menopause, this would have been figured out, and you know it's true," Berry said, to which Booker wholeheartedly agreed.

Berry shared multiple videos on her Instagram page that highlights parts of her discussion with Booker on menopause. Many fans and followers left messages about their journeys and thanked Berry for bringing more awareness to a topic that's not talked about enough.

"THANK YOU!! ?? Like pretty much every aspect of women's health, we need to talk about perimenopause and menopause more, normalize these conversations, and increase funding for research into better options for treatment! As you said, HALF of the human population goes through these experiences - they're not something that should be hidden or silently suffered through! ?" one follower wrote.

Another added, "Thanks for this Halle. Entered Menopause early due to an emergency hysterectomy 10 years ago. I felt so alone and yes the stigma is real. Glad we are enhancing the awareness and support. ?"

Another follower shared, "Such an important conversation on many levels! Thank you for staying in the fight to bring light and awareness. Keep up the good work Queen!"

Many others thanked Berry for opening up the important conversation and advocating for more research and awareness.

"Yes! This is such a needed topic of conversation. There is so little information and so little support even from the medical community. Women spend so many years in this transition and it can have such an effect on mental and physical health," one follower wrote.

Another added, "I love this. It’s good for women to know we are not alone and that there are options."