Halle Berry doesn’t care what talking about menopause will do to her career.
On Feb. 18, the Oscar winner appeared on the Today Show to discuss her new company, Respin Health, which focuses on building a community for women navigating menopause. “When women have access to a robust community of like-minded women, they automatically start to do better,” the 58-year-old says.
Saturday TODAY co-anchor Laura Jarrett noted that although it sounds “ridiculous,” it feels like menopause is finally having a moment, with more people willing to have conversations about it.
Berry said at first she was discouraged from pursuing the passion project: “Sadly, people said to me, ‘Are you sure you want to talk about that? Do you want to align yourself with menopause? Do you worry how that will affect your career?’ And I said, ‘No.’”
“And that’s exactly why I should be talking about it because there’s nothing wrong with me being in my mid-life,” the actress continued. “There’s nothing wrong with being 58, and you have to stop telling me there’s something wrong with me. And I’m going to prove to you that it’s not. And so women, we have to work together to destigmatize this time of life and change culture.”
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The Catwoman star encouraged other women going through menopause to lean into their health more and understand what’s happening to their bodies.
“Women find when they start educating themselves that they can make decisions from a place of power, and then they feel empowered and they don’t feel so hopeless during this half,” she explained. “It’s not time to sit down. It’s time to reinvent. It’s time to have a beautiful, glorious second act. We can still be our fabulous selves, but we have to learn how.”
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During menopause, Berry added, “everything about our body changes, right? But that’s not to be feared. We just need education to navigate that time.”
Back in August 2024, Berry opened up about celebrating her 58th birthday by focusing on women’s health and advocating for a new bill to raise public awareness on menopause, as well as provide training and resources to health care providers.
“I’m going to be in West Virginia with Senator [Shelley] Capito doing some advocacy work for my menopause bill,” she told Extra TV, referring to the Advancing Menopause Care and Mid-Life Women’s Health Act introduced in May 2024.
“I can’t think of a better way to spend my birthday than fighting for all women,” she continued. “Can’t wait to get there.”
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