Halle Berry reveals her perimenopause symptoms were mistaken for ‘bad case of herpes’ | Hollywood

Halle Berry recently got candid about her experience with perimenopause and how a doctor mistook her symptoms for herpes. During Monday’s appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show, the 58-year-old discussed menopause. She also reflected on how it became “so painful” for her to go to the bathroom while experiencing perimenopause and how it turned out to be a testing time for the Catwoman star and her boyfriend, Van Hunt, following a wrong diagnosis.

Halle Berry recalls being mistakenly diagnosed with herpes while experiencing perimenopause symptoms

Speaking to fellow Hollywood star Drew Barrymore, Berry recalled being on cloud nine after meeting Hunt. She was 54 at the time. The Moonfall actress revealed that they were “having the best time” as she had “finally met [her] person. One of the first tests that the couple faced was when she woke up one morning and had a difficult time in the bathroom.

“I tried to go to the bathroom, and I couldn’t go,” Berry recalled, adding, “It was so painful when I tried to let a little bit out. I couldn’t go. It took me almost 10 minutes just to empty my bladder because it was so painful.” She went on to reveal that “substances were down there that I had never seen before. And I thought, ‘What is this?’”

As things became “so swollen” down there, Hunt drove Berry to the doctor’s, where she received a wrong diagnosis. The unnamed medical professional said that she had a “really bad case of herpes,” sparking a heated discussion between the Bruised star and the 54-year-old singer.

“We spend the next 72 hours doing the blame game, trying to figure out who gave it to me, who gave it to him,” Berry continued, adding, “And then a couple of hours after that, my doctor called me and said, ‘You do not have herpes.’” She revealed that it was a “defining moment” for her as she had to self-diagnose her symptoms.

Berry went on to say, “That’s when I came up with dry vagina syndrome that women have when they’re in perimenopause. And I had all the symptoms of what that felt like, and I realized, ‘Oh, I’m 54 years old,’” before admitting that “nobody” had ever had a “serious conversation” with her about perimenopause.