Halle Berry had a candid conversation about what intimacy is like while you’re in perimenopause, saying it made her vagina so dry, sex felt like “razor blades.” The experience inspired her to launch her own lubricant — and it’s the very first product offered by her women’s wellness company, Respin.
During a Feb. 25 appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show, the Oscar winner, 58, and Barrymore, 50, had a frank conversation about their struggles with perimenopause — the transitional period before menopause, when women stop menstruating and estrogen levels decrease.
Berry shared that her initial perimenopause symptom was vaginal dryness; Also known as vaginal atrophy, vaginal dryness occurs when the lining of the vagina gets thinner due a decrease in estrogen, which happens in perimenopause and menopause. As the Cleveland Clinic says, symptoms include burning, itching, spotting, and painful intercourse.
“I did have about six months or seven months [where] we struggled with finding a way to have sex again, getting rid of the dryness, making it more enjoyable because it got pretty rough for a minute,” shared Berry, who has been with partner Van Hunt, who she called “my person,” since 2020.
“If I may give a description,” Barrymore interjected, “It feels like sandpaper.”
“Razor blades,” Berry replied, prompting Barrymore to confirm, “Yeah.”
Berry shared that her wellness company, Respin, has partnered with the women’s wellness company Joylux for a lubricating gel and an intimacy device that targets pelvic floor health.
As Barrymore shared, a lack of intimacy — due to personal, physical struggles — can negatively impact relationships.
“There’s also a tremendous mental game that goes with that, which is: ‘I don’t want to put myself through that.’ That’s very hard for partners, because they don’t know what you’re going through and they don’t know why you don’t want to engage in physicality,” Barrymore said, adding it “can put a giant chasm in your relationship.”
Barrymore continued: “That’s why we need more care, more conversation, more attention in the government — medically, insurance-wise — commercials, so that we can talk about this and make it benign.”
“Conversation is key,” Berry said. “Men have to also understand what’s going on. We, as women, have to have the courage to talk to our partners about it, and what I have found is that most men want to be supportive.”
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