The Second Coming of Halle Berry [VIDEO]
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It's always like what I call the plus one purchase in a pharmacy. No one will go in and just buy lube. No one. People are always like, oh, get a bunch of other things, shampoo. Orange juice. Yeah, you got to get some kind of paper. I'm just saying, I'm going to go buy condom. No, no, no. You're going to throw some other stuff in. No, you throw everything else in, and then you're just like, I don't know. And then God forbid the lube doesn't scan. Like if it doesn't, like, if that code doesn't work. This is What Now? with Trevor Noah.

You know what? The more kids you have, the harder the pregnancies become. Because if you got pregnant now and you had to run it after your other two... Well, now I'm 58, that'd be hard for that reason. Is that real, though? Are you sure that you're 58?

No, I ask you this because like some people don't know, like maybe you don't, like are you sure, sure? He's like your biological. August 14th, I'm 58. He's like your biological age. That's what he's asking. Well, my glycan age is 40. Oh, that makes, there you go. I just did that. That's my glycan age. That's what I mean. I don't think some people age the same way calendars work. Yeah. And I think you're one of those people.

If we had to repopulate another planet, I would pick Halle Berry as one of the people. Because I'd go like... Helen of Troy, basically. Yeah, essentially. That's what I would do. Stop it. It's so good to have you here, by the way. Thank you so much for joining us. Can I tell you, I don't think I've had more fun researching somebody than researching you before this conversation. Because half of the things that I found seem like conspiracy theories, but they're true. Because you type Halle Berry, and then all of a sudden, like...

The first thing that popped up was Halle Berry intimacy gel. And I was like, oh, wait, no, no, this is, and I thought it was my search engine. I was like, no, no, no, sorry, wait, this is, no, no, me, Halle Berry, what is she doing? And then it was like, Halle Berry, herpes. And I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, no, no, no. I was like, what is happening to my algorithm? And then when I read through everything, I was like, oh, wow, Halle Berry is doing everything right now.

Is she? I mean, you tell me. It feels like in the same way that menopause is a moment of transformation for women, it feels like you are in a menopause of life and you're turning something that people would commonly think of as the end into a new beginning. Yeah, that's how I feel. That's exactly how I feel. I am approaching my second act and I couldn't be more excited. You know, when you find...

you find a there there and you connect to what you know is a greater purpose. We always ask ourselves when we're here, but what is my why? Why am I here? What am I meant to do? I figured out what that is. And there's joy and there's peace and there's comfort and there's confidence in that, right? And so that's where I'm at. And what is that? If you were to distill the purpose down, what is it for Halle Berry? It is to be a voice for women in midlife, a time of life that we have

been so forgotten and so underserved and underappreciated. And I realized that

I have been chosen to be a voice, not the voice, but a voice, a loud voice in this space to talk about what it looks like to be in our second act, what it looks like to be in midlife, what does longevity really look like for women, right? Because we're living longer, but we've been in poor health. And why is that? Right? And why can't we redefine ourselves? And we are here.

for more than baby making. That's a wonderful, glorious thing that we do, but we're here for so much more than that. But the world has told us after we do that, we're done. I'm here to say, no, that's not true.

Where that's not true. And how are we going to live this thing out in our best health? So, Hallie, I'm so curious because this is something me and my friends talk about a lot, that we know like all of our mothers went through menopause, but they've never discussed it with us, right? Like they've never said anything to you? Is this like an African mother thing? No, just all of the... Oh, wow. All my girlfriends, black, white. We're always like, you know, we're like, when...

you know, perimenopause. We have lots of questions because we're like, a lot of us are going into perimenopause now, right? And it's like... Wait, for those who don't know, what is...

perimenopause is a period before menopause, which is chaotic and very difficult for women. And you have like memory loss and anxiety. And I think peri is the worst. Once you get in the menopause, like you're kind of on the other side of it. It's the peri is where it's the hardest. I'm still in peri too. And I'm like, man, I got three more months and then I'm going to be in the menopause if I don't menstruate. And man, I'm going to be so happy to be in that menopause. But like most women don't actually know what perimenopause is, right? So it's a

And me and my friends of all backgrounds, we talk about the fact that our mothers and grandmothers and great grandmothers must have gone through this. Of course they did. They haven't given us this guidebook. Do they even have the language for what they went through? And I'm curious how you came to it and were like, I'm going to use this as transformation because from my perspective and from our friends, it's just something that's shrouded in shame. Like it's a conversation we still haven't even had with our own mothers. Yeah. And you're like out here. Yeah. Really publicly clad.

Well, I, like you, didn't know what perimenopause was. Nobody talked to me either. But I did have this feeling that I was going to skip it.

I thought I got myself off insulin at an early age. I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, and I got off insulin. I got off oral medication, and I found a way with food and using food as medicine to get off insulin. And I thought whatever this perimenopause thing is that happens to women around this time, I'm going to skip it because look what I did with the diabetes diagnosis. So I'm just going to skip this whole shit. Well, no.

I didn't skip that bullshit. I realized that I was in it and Trevor's heard this, so I'm not going to go into the gruesome details because I think... No, you should. You should. Because I individually have heard it, but I think it's important for everyone to... Because not everyone's heard it and it's important to them. No, I really think it's very important to hear it, genuinely. Because I... Okay, I'll tell you... Before you even tell it, I'll tell you why I think it's important. So, I think...

I love what you said about being chosen. You know, my mother always says, sometimes you're not chosen because somebody chooses you. You're chosen because you are the best person in the best position to do something about something. And that's sometimes what being chosen means. You know what I mean? And I think in a weird way, I feel like in this moment in your life,

And everything that was put on you, some of it good and some of it even as a burden, has almost become like the chariot that you're going to ride into this thing on. Does that make sense? And so I think the story is very important because nobody is brave enough to tell it.

and nobody is, not many people are interesting enough to tell it, to be honest with you. And no, and I think that's important because I heard this like with a few guys as well. And it was interesting to see guys just be like, oh wow, we got to get into this. We got to like, I don't know how to explain it. I think it was cool to see a story being told

in a way that it affects women. But men are affected. Men live with women. Like, you're in our world. You're in our lives. Okay, well, pretend you didn't hear it. I didn't hear anything. I didn't hear anything. And do all the oohs and ahhs and gasps. We're fully in, girl. We're fully in. Okay, so how I found out was, you know, I've been divorced three times.

That's okay. I'm proud of that, right? Having the courage to leave when something's not right. I don't think that's a bad thing. I think it's a wonderful thing to be able to do. So I'm not ashamed of that. But I have been divorced three times. I finally meet what I thought and I now know to be my person. And we are firing on all cylinders. We're getting along and we're having the most amazing sex. I didn't even think it was possible to...

have something so great at this time in life. I really didn't. After three divorces, I kind of thought, well, I'm kind of done. And I'm cool with that. But I meet this person and we're just having the best time. All of a sudden, a year into our relationship, we had a great night of sex. I wake up in the morning and I do what we always do. I go to the bathroom. Well, I think I'm going to go to the bathroom. I sit down on the toilet.

I cannot go to the bathroom. My body just sort of seizes up and I can't go. And I start to let a little bit out. And it's the most intense.

excruciating pain I have ever felt besides having a cornea scratched there's nothing more painful and you've given birth without drugs by the way my second baby so I think it's more painful than that yeah right and I'm like oh my god and it takes me literally probably 10 minutes to just empty my bladder because I can't I can't let it out

So I get off the toilet and I go to my guy and I say, look, I got to go to the doctor. Like something has happened to me and I don't know what it is. And I couldn't even put my legs together. Whatever happened in the night after that sex was bad. So we jump in the car. He drives me to see my doctor. I get in there and my doctor's, you know, got me on the table. He's looking up there and he says, wow, you got a new guy in your life. I said, I do. And I'm like, that's amazing. And he's like, yeah.

He said, well, I think I know what this is. Actually, I know what this is. I've seen this before. And I said, what? He said, it's a really bad case of herpes. Like, a really bad case. And I'm like, herpes? Yeah.

I mean, not knocking anyone that has herpes, but I was like, herpes? I'm like, what? How do you know that? He goes, I've seen this before. This is a really bad case of herpes. Now, all these things are going through my mind. Like the love of my life, this great man, this great sex, and now he gave me herpes? Like, I thought, wow, he would have told me he had herpes. Like, I thought he should have. He could have. Like, why didn't he? Going through all this stuff. And he goes, I'm going to do the test. In three days, you'll get the results back. But I'm sure, I'm pretty sure, Hal, this is herpes.

So now I go down in the car. He's in the car waiting for me. I see him. I open the door and I'm angry and I'm sad that he didn't tell me. And I'm also mad. And I'm like, so yo, look, so you got herpes? Yeah.

He's like, what? I'm like, you have herpes. He's like, I don't have herpes. I said, clearly you have herpes because I have herpes. And I didn't have herpes before I knew you. Now I have herpes. So you clearly gave me herpes. Oh, wow. Oh, my God. He's like, no, I swear I didn't. I don't think I have herpes. I said, I don't have it. I said, well, let me be the first to tell.

you, you got herpes. Because I got herpes. I didn't have it before you. So we're driving home in this argument, like who has herpes? And we're arguing about why. Most awkward car ride ever. Awkward, right? So we get home and I say to him, look, you're going to have to go to the doctors and you're going to have to get a test too. And you're going to find out you have herpes because now we both have herpes and you gave it to me.

So he's like, okay, I'll go to the doctor. I don't feel like I have any herpes. So he goes to the doctor. We have 72 hours of just blaming each other and not knowing what to do. He gets his test back first. He comes to me, chest poked out. Like I said, I don't have herpes. Upright. You have the herpes. And I thought, oh my, I said, okay, I guess I have the herpes. I said, I'm sorry I've given you herpes. Like I didn't know. I wouldn't, I'm sorry. Okay.

A few hours later, my doctor calls me. Before he even says anything, I'm ready to say, okay, yeah, I already know I got the herpes. He says, Hallie, you don't have herpes. I'm like, I don't? I'm like, I don't have herpes, really? He said, no, you don't. I said, well, why would you say that? He said, well, that's what it looked like, but I don't know how to explain this. But no, you do not have herpes. I'm like, well, what is it then?

Didn't know. He didn't know? No, he didn't know. He said, I don't know. I don't know. And this is like your primary care doctor had no idea? No. No.

And this was the defining moment that set me on this journey. What I went through with my guy for 72 hours, finding out this news the way we did, but nobody could tell me, well, why had this happened to me and what was wrong with me? And that sent me on my own journey of investigation and reconnaissance and reading. And I came to after about

two or three weeks of my own individual investigation that what was happening to me was a symptom that many women suffer from in the perimenopausal years. Now, I'm 54. Right.

Some one of my doctors should have already talked to me about being in perimenopause. This is wild. Nobody, and I've got like six doctors. Not one of them had a conversation. I'm 54 years old about perimenopause. And not telling you how to prepare for it. Or that it was even coming. Yeah. I thought I was going to skip it.

Because nobody talked to me about it. It wasn't like it was going to happen to me then. You hear these stories happening to people, like in all of medicine. So I think, you know, sometimes I think medicine is hard. We acknowledge that. There are many things doctors don't know. A lot of things that doctors can't figure out. And a good doctor will tell you that. They're like, hey, we try our best, but oftentimes we don't know.

But it's crazy how much more they don't know about women's issues. Yes. Do you know what I mean? We haven't been studied in the same way men have. We only were allowed to be a part of clinical studies in 1993. 93? 1993. Oh, wow. Was when they started including women in clinical studies. I didn't know it was that late. But the thing is, they know our periods cease at a point. Like, I would accept that. Yeah. As a reason. Yeah, there's something you don't know. But this is not unknowable. We know that women, at a certain point, if you live long enough...

You'll probably stop menstruating. Right. And the period before that can be difficult. Well, doctors should know that, I guess. But they didn't. So they didn't prepare you at all. Not at all. No one says, hey, just so you know, you're getting to. Like, for instance, OK, so when I turned 40, without fail, my doctor was like, how old are you? Even when I was like 38, they're like, 38? They're like, soon you're going to need to go and get your prostate checked. Yeah. And I was like, what is that? And they're like, they're going to go and do the thing to your bum. And I was like, OK.

But every stop I would go to, people would like throw it out. They're like, throw it out, throw it out, throw it out. Even like the dentist. He was like, oh, happy birthday. Prostate time. I'm like, okay. So I just knew, genuinely, I just knew. At 40, prostate is now a thing that gets checked. And you're telling me that... Wouldn't it be great if doctors told us at 40, okay, perimenopause time. Let me tell you what you got to do to get... Oh, that's crazy. Wouldn't that be great if they knew enough what the truth is? Only...

13% of doctors in our country understand the menopausal body, and it's one chapter in medical school. That's why doctors don't know. So I don't sit here even blaming my doctor that didn't know what that was. Not his fault. Not his fault. On an institutional level, we have not been made important on any level. So it's not their fault. It's only going to become their fault.

as this conversation gets louder and louder and these doctors don't go back and get retooled, then I will start blaming them. Because when you know better, you do better. Now, doctors are really starting to understand what they don't know. And menopause used to not be a thing. Nobody ever thought that it was real. It was like, just deal with it. It's just old age. It's just, oh...

No, it's not just, oh, it's a real thing. And it affects more than just our lady parts. When we lose our estrogen, the thing that makes us us, that makes women women, it affects our brain, our heart, our liver, our skin, our bones, our hair, our mood. Everything about us becomes compromised. Well, the suicide rate goes up for menopausal women. Yes. That was something I read. And we just get put on antidepressants because we're depressed. No, we're not depressed. We're losing that hormone that makes a...

who we are on a cellular level. And if we don't replace that in some way, we're just going to die slowly. And it's a tragic death because we lose our faculties to think and remember early onset Alzheimer's and dementia. Our bones get so brittle, we fall down, we break them. It's lights out, right? Our heart gets compromised. More women have heart disease and heart attacks at this time of life than men do, right? So it's not just we get...

What I know I had now was vaginal atrophy. It's not just that. That I've learned how to fix. I'm good now. But how do we fix our heart disease? How do we fix our brain? How do we stay virile and active and be able to walk and take care of ourselves? How do we do that without this very thing that makes us us? That's what we have to start studying. We're going to continue this conversation right after this short break.

I'll tell you why I love these conversations because like, so like I've told you something like, so I grew up with my mom, like as a single mom for most of our lives, right? And for various reasons, apartheid being one, but like, she's just like a single mom. But my mom, like it's, it's, I don't realize I, or I didn't realize how blessed I was because she shares everything with me. So when she was going through menopause, she would just like tell me stuff that was happening to her body and

And she'd be like, oh, I'm so hot. She said, oh, you must, thank God you're not a woman. This thing that's happening to me. She says, I'm hot and I'm cold and I'm angry and I'm tired and I'm sleepy. Hi, Trevor. No, I don't want it. I don't want it. And then like when she was finished, she said, I feel strong. I feel like a man.

I'd be like, man. And I was like, this, I don't know what's happening. But she would explain. No, so I love these conversations. And I'm in a strange way used to them, you know, because of just, I guess, how my mom was with me. But I don't know what some of the terms are. And I don't, so like, what is vaginal atrophy? Yeah.

You should say vaginal atrophy is what 50% of the women who go through perimenopause actually experience. 50%. 50%. So it's a real serious part of, I am so not alone in what I've gone through. And it's when the walls of your vagina start to actually atrophy, which means they start to fall apart and sort of disintegrate. You lose your collagen inside your vagina, as we do in our faces, and we start to get wrinkles and your skin gets crepey.

That's what's happening inside your vagina. And so the walls get really thin and, you know, crepey. So when you are having sex, those walls are so thin it cracks, right?

And that's what the razor blades in the vagina feels like that I experienced. And sometimes it happens during sex, but then it can happen after you've had sex. If you were in the moment and you got your groove and you don't feel that it's cracking because those endorphins are kicking off and pleasure is happening, the next morning when you go to the bathroom and you try to urinate, it's when the urine touches the walls of those cracks. That's what makes it so painful. And that's what vaginal atrophy is.

I'm so curious because women aren't necessarily talking to other women about this and don't have the resources themselves. Doctors don't seem to know. Where does a woman go who's like perimenopausal or menopausal and is trying to figure out what is going on and who can help me? What's funny you should say.

We have just launched Respin 2.0 and Respin Health. And the whole idea of this company is about creating community.

We learned that when people have other people, like-minded people who are struggling with the same issue to talk to, there's strength in that, right? There's strength in community. Talking to other people, you can hold each other accountable. You can brainstorm. You can share stories. Because I've learned, as I've been talking about it, when I talk to other women, they go, ah,

aha, they instantly feel better because they can talk about it with someone who understands, who's not afraid to talk about it, who can hold space for their feelings, who know that what they're saying is true and real. They can feel less shame. They can feel not alone, less afraid. That right there is half the battle.

Just getting them to talk about it and feel good talking, not just talking about it, but feeling empowered by being able to talk about it. So Respin is that place of community, but they can also not just talk and like talk about it in like a wild, wild west kind of way. They can talk about it and be guided with doctors and professionals and scientists. Also, it's connected to healthcare providers as well. Yes. Okay. And people that are on the cutting edge of where we are in menopause, who are doing the latest researches.

Right. Running the most recent clinical trials and studies who can tell you why HRT isn't bad for us like we once thought 20 years ago. Why that was a debunked study that was... That's hormone replacement therapy. Yes. Okay. Right. And why that study... And that's something I actually wanted to ask you about because when I... The older women who do...

speak about it with me are so terrified of hormone replacement therapy. Yes, because of that study. Yeah, and I say, well, the study's been debunked and you can go on Instagram and see in the comments section there's big pharma trying to kill us. Wow. No, but, you know, because it's like breast cancer is a thing that does increase with age and people are terrified to get breast cancer. Yes. So there are women suffering right now who maybe are good

Absolutely. And that's why we have to figure out what the truth is about it. And then as women, we have to make those choices for ourselves, not because what you heard or what somebody else is afraid of, but we have to make these decisions based on education for ourselves. Because for me, just me, I'm not afraid of anything.

We have a greater chance of having cancer late in life anyway. So if that's the truth, I want to live my second act feeling great. Mm-hmm.

Not having brain fog, not flooding my laundry room every other week, not raging, not having headaches, not, you know, not worrying. Hopping at the mercy of your body, it sounds like. Right. I want to live my best life. And so once I did my own education, I too was afraid of HRT because I had heard those stories. But once I got into understanding why it was okay for me, I now know I'll be on this till the day I die. Oh, really? Yes, because I'm going to die anyway and I'm going to die. Yeah.

feeling good about. We don't know if that's a fact, though. We don't know. I am going to die. We assume you think you'll die. But I might not. I mean, you say you're 58. We don't know. I don't believe that. There might be like a future generation having this conversation. So Hallie, as the first thousand-year-old person, what do you feel about... Let me ask you a few questions. Oh God, I better not be here. From an ignorant perspective, like...

You know, for people who are either scared or unsuitable for hormone replacement therapy, are there other options? Are there non-HRT options? Yeah, there are other options on the market that women can try that are afraid or who, you know, legit cannot go on hormone replacement. There are those women out there. But that's why I've been in Washington trying to get this bill passed, this menopause bill with $265 million bill, because we need more research. Right.

We need more education. We need more therapies developed so that HRT will not be the best solution. Right now, arguably, if you can take it, it is the best solution. But we're working with doctors and with the government to try to come up with other therapies because not every woman will feel like that's the right choice for her. I get that. And we should have the right to do hormone or do it.

You know, a non-hormonal remedy. We should have the right to make that choice for ourselves. The right and the range. Yes. Curious, like drinking bone broth, collagen supplements, would that help? Yes. Yes, all of that help. I'm on the bone broth, been on that for like six years. Bone broth, supplements, a good quality collagen though. All collagen is not created equal. But a good collagen, absolutely. Okay. So from the inside out, you can do some of the work. Yeah, you can do some of the work. But sometimes I'm finding...

For the more severe vaginal atrophies, that's like the slow boat from China. You might be done having sex before it gets fixed. So you might have to find another remedy like the V-Fit or HRT or vaginal inserts, estradiol vaginal inserts. We're now finding are actually very, very helpful too. So I would understand if this was a conversation that women didn't have with men. I'd love to know why women...

don't have it with women or why it isn't like, I don't even, again, this is very ignorant of me, but I don't understand why there's any shame attached to it. What is it about it that is shameful?

Well, I can tell you one thing, because we live in a world where, as women, we have been sold the ideology that we have to stay forever young. We have to stay forever 30. Oh, damn. Right? And look around. Look, you see what's happening to the faces and the people. We have to stay. At all costs, we cannot age. We are only valuable when we are young and virile and forever 30, 35. Hmm.

And that's why we don't have the conversations because we have bought into that and we don't want to get old either. Mm-hmm.

So we're not going to talk about that with each other. Women are talking about how they can stay young. Right. What they can do with their face. The procedures. The procedures they can do and how can you. That's what we're talking about. Where we are also victims of this way of thinking. The goal should not be to stay forever 30. The goal should be to age gracefully, have the confidence to be able to do that, knowing that our real value lies within, not externally. Because we're fighting for external youth. Because the inside is doing what the inside is doing. Yeah.

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You see, it's interesting that you say that. That's what I mean by reading up on your life and why I feel like Chosen is a situation that you were in and you've accepted. Because when I look at the journey of Halle Berry, I've gone back to interviews that you did in like 1992, just like random moments with local newspapers. And it's amazing. No, it's really amazing to see how

you were trying to pitch yourself as a serious actor, somebody who's in the game, as somebody who takes their craft seriously. And without fail, your beauty will always be put first before everything. And by the way, I'm not even like judging people 'cause I know I'm part of them. I'm not like sitting here like, I was like, I'm not gonna be here like, no, I was, you say Halle Berry and then I was like, hallelujah. You get what I'm saying? But it's such a strange thing because someone would go like, oh, but it's like a good problem.

But I feel like you are the embodiment of that in a very specific way. And now you're using some of that experience to try and rally against the idea because you are the epitome of that. And you work in an industry where many actresses have said across the board, God forbid, a wrinkle starts popping out the corner of your eye, out the corner of your mouth. And all of a sudden they're like, do you want to play someone's mom?

And the rolls dry up and, you know, everything disappears. Whereas like George Clooney, he's still the heartthrob. Him and Brad Pitt, let's do it, baby. No one's like, wait, they're how old? No, everyone's just like, George Clooney, Brad Pitt. Oh, yeah. But if like two women of the same age in Hollywood were trying to do that, someone would go, huh, that's an interesting... Yeah. What is it, like a mom's weekend movie? A MILF movie? A MILF movie. Yeah. Then we're MILF. Cougars. I'd love to know like how you've dealt with that. Because...

It can be hard, I can only assume, to on the one hand have something that people see as an asset, and it is in some ways, but then also deal with the limitations that it comes with in allowing you to be your fullest self as a person. Yeah. Yeah. And it has been, you know, I feel like this is a very hard thing to say because, you know, people often are, you know, oh, poor you. Oh, yeah, no, yeah. You told yourself.

God damn it. You know? And I know that. So it's... This is a hard thing to say, but it's something that... And I think I've said this recently. I have longed to hear somebody say anything else other than that. Anything else. You could call me...

You know, she's a—curses? You can say anything you want. She's a motherfucking bitch. I'd almost rather them say that at this point than just the same thing I've heard for four decades. Yeah. You know, because I know that I'm more than this, and I feel like that's always so reductive. You know, it's just reductive. I've worked hard to be a good actor. I've worked hard to be a good mother. I've worked hard at trying to be me and to just be reduced to, oh, she's pretty.

At 58, it's a hard pill to swallow these days. And so you're right. I think this cause has given me a platform to talk about something other than that. And if I have been known as that my whole life, I'm the perfect person to talk about. Yeah, that's exactly what I mean. That's what you mean. I'm the perfect person to talk about this now. Is that why you're claiming like probably the most unpopular?

unsexy, gruesome experience. Beyond the actual act of giving birth, which is very ugly, it's beautiful, but it's ugly if you see it up front. Menopause and this is just like, it's not something that most women would have the courage to claim publicly. And do you think you're trying to claim it for yourself in part because you want to get away from that perception of

perfection and beauty. And maybe I didn't choose it consciously, but like you said, Trevor, it's chosen me because I am the right person to talk about it. Right. Because you would think someone like me would, I'd be the last one talking about it. But see, I've never, you know, I don't ride on that beauty horse that people always want to put me on. So I woke up one morning with this idea, oh, I'm going to tell this story. When this happened to me, I had no

trepidation about telling it. Like none. Was there anyone in your circle who was like, Hallie, what are you doing? Like surely there was someone. Like I can only imagine like the world of agents, managers, you know, everything. Because there is the idea of Hallie Berry. I wonder if there was just anyone who was like, Hallie, you can't. You can't. Like what are you doing? Surely there was a little doubt. Maybe, but I always had the right answer. I would say to people that said, this is going to, this might level your career. And I said, no.

I have been black in this body and a woman my whole career. What's harder than that? Damn. So this doesn't scare me. I've always been behind the eight ball and I made it and I'm still here doing things on my own terms. So what's harder than that?

Nothing. So no fear. I'm used to it. I was going to ask about the black womanhood piece, because I think that when you drill down, black women and menopause and just reproductive health in general is just a maze. And we're misdiagnosed and underdiagnosed. And we're at greater risk. We suffer disproportionately. Disproportionately. So what would you say to black women...

Specifically, especially those that maybe don't even have the tools and the vocabulary to understand what's happening with their body. We have to start taking this into our own hands. Even these women in these rural states that don't have access to care, we have to lean in. We have to do our own education because we've got a while before the medical world catches up to where we are and can offer us really what we deserve. We're on the precipice of that right now.

So we as women have to, one, realize it's happening. We have to start talking about it, that thing that nobody did. And we have to lean in and we have to do our own research. We have to question our doctors. If our doctors don't know about our bodies, guess what, ladies? Get a new doctor. And, you know, as women, we have a hard time doing that. We have a hard time standing up for ourselves, going to our male doctors that we've had for maybe 15, 20 years and saying, hey, but you don't know about my body. I'm out of here.

These are the kinds of decisions we have to start making for ourselves because we deserve health care and we deserve doctors that understand what's happening. And not many do. So we have to search them out. And maybe sometimes you have to have a doctor that's in another state that you can connect with that can guide you. You might not be able just to go see your doctor that you always went to go see. You might have to look outside those boundaries sometimes.

And find a place where you can really get the information you need and be cared for. And we have to do it ourselves. And we can't keep our heads in the mud and think that it's going to skip me because that's what I thought. No, ignorant. We cannot come from that place. We have to go do the work and start educating ourselves and make some tough choices. I only realized how opaque this world was when – so –

I saw you in Sweden. We were in Stockholm. Yes. Right? And you were speaking and you were sharing some of your experience.

And I'll never forget how, like, if you've never been to Sweden, like, if you've never been to Scandinavia, understand something. The Scandinavians are the most put together, non-disruptive, polite people you will ever come across. Oh, so polite. Yeah, they're like, hey, you keep to yourself. Everyone does their own thing. You've all got your own house and let's keep it moving. Do you know what I mean? Like, it's very, very, very polite society. And when Hallie was speaking on stage, people, like...

It was amazing because it was like watching the human body go through two conflicting emotions at the same time. On the one hand, you would see these Scandinavian women stiffen up, like you shouldn't be saying this, but then their heads would turn like, tell me more, tell me more. And then afterwards we were having some conversations and one elderly woman came up to me and she says, yeah, that Halle Berry, quite a story to tell. Yeah.

I don't know if I would have told it the same way, but yeah, I'm glad she spoke. But yeah, that was quite intimate. Yeah, because now we know she has a vagina. And I was like, but we all, we should surely. But it was really amazing to see this because, you know, you would think, you know, you say rural, you think, but it is amazing to see how pervasive a shame. Yeah.

Or like an idea can be... I'm like, did you not think I had a vagina? But this is what made me wonder. So when I think of the journey that you're on now, you know, like intimacy gel, for instance.

I love that it seems like you've taken something that was a kernel of an idea and you're growing it into like a forest of, you know, of acknowledgement in a way. Because like intimacy gel already people are just like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait, wait, lubricant. Wait, wait, what's happening here? And she's getting great reviews, by the way. Tabitha Brown. Shout out to Tabitha Brown. Tabitha.

So that's what I mean. Those are gifts you just get from people. But this is something that was, again, it has a different type of taboo, right? So if menopause is the taboo of, oh, my body's not working the way it's quote unquote supposed to work. And if I'm now aging and I'm quote unquote, you know, I'm fading out or I'm aging out.

This is another taboo. It's like, oh, sex, like lubricant or like any of these things. Do you know what I mean? This is such like another taboo. And it's my goal to change that. Yes. I want women to go in there and say, do you have Let's Spin? I need some Let's Spin. Do you have it? And feel no shame because sex does get better on the other side. This is what I want to get into is...

Like, if something is not improved, then it'll always remain bad. It might even get worse, right? And I couldn't help wonder, reading everything about the intimacy gel, I was like, how many people are not having sex anymore now?

Not because they can't, but because they don't know how to. Yes, yes. And then you're speaking about this. Yes. Why was sex as important in a way as just the treating of the menopause itself? Because it seems like one is like a pleasure thing and the other one is like your body. So why sex? Well, it's both. And first of all, I created a product that I most needed.

Right? And I think whenever somebody introduces a product into the market or they're an entrepreneur and they have an idea for something, I find the most interesting companies to me are when they have founders that created something to fill a need that they have. Right? And that's how, you know, you put your heart and your soul into it. And it's probably going to be a good product because they were trying to help themselves. Yeah. But by doing so, they help millions of other people. Right? So I was just trying to help myself get through this time thinking, what can I do? Yeah.

so that I can continue doing that thing that makes me me. Right? Because I just told you, I found my guy. I found my person. I know, you're having great sex. I can't breathe and I'm like, God, this is a joke. I finally found him. So it really came out of a need to help myself. Right. But in doing so, I started to realize, oh, I'm not the only woman suffering from this. This is a conversation that we all need to start having because, and it's not just pleasure. You know, for men to stay comfortable

connected to their optimal good health, they have to keep having sex. You guys have to keep having that thing, which is why you got the blue pill right away when it was a problem. Boom. Well, women are the same way. We have to keep having sex too. It's a part of staying healthy. It's a part of our systems that must operate like your systems operate, right? It's just we...

don't get thought of that way because you know what happens when men need to continue having sex if their partner who's about their same age can't keep having sex traditionally nothing against my men because I love you guys oh no that's fine because what you guys do is you know well you'll just go get another younger woman and keep doing the thing you need to do we cannot right if our system shuts down we can't go get another man because we can't have I think you could get someone younger not in the same world I mean

Because he's going to want what he's going to want. So, no, I have to keep this working. But because as women, we failed to keep it working. There have been so many divorces just for that reason. So many. I'll tell you a story. I have a friend who will remain nameless, but he came to me and he said, Hallie, I'm going to get a divorce. And I've known him a long time. And I was like, but what? You

you love your wife. Like, what is happening? This was like two years ago. And he said, she just doesn't want me anymore. Like, I don't know what has happened. We were doing so good. I thought we were going to ride this thing out. I would go to her. I would try to touch her and she would pull away and she's got someone else or something. She's just, she doesn't feel it for me anymore. Damn. And I just said,

wow. And I couldn't believe it. And I was just formulating all of my ideas about what I'm doing now about menopause and how she might be feeling. And I said to him, I said, this is going to sound crazy to you, but go home and start a conversation with her about perimenopause. And just start asking her how she's feeling down there. Is she feeling dry? Is she feeling headachy? Just go have a conversation. I told him all the things to say. Two weeks later, I see him again. He's like,

Oh, my God. Hallie, you were right. She did not. It's not that she didn't want me. She thought that every time I touched her, I was going to want sex. And she knew that that was so painful for her. And she didn't want to feel that. And she was tired of faking it. She was tired of having it be so excruciating painful, but had to act like it wasn't hurting at all. And he was like, that's what it was all about. Because she couldn't even talk to him to tell him that.

And so that's when I knew that, oh my God, this is an issue that we have to talk about and how intimately men are a part of this conversation and how many marriages have broken up because they were on the verge of a divorce. And once they could talk about this, now they're thriving again.

She's been a part of Respin. She's got her Let's Spin. She did her V-Fit, you know, vaginal device. Oh, tell me about the V-Fit. Well, it's another thing. It's like a red light therapy device, you know, just like we do on our faces now for anti-aging and collagen building. That goes into the vagina and it rebuilds the vaginal walls. And it's like it can actually help thicken your walls again so that you don't, so you have more elasticity in your vagina walls when you're having intercourse. Okay.

This is so techy and futuristic. Yeah, this is a rock and roll world. Oh my gosh. I'm just a tech fan. You're like, what? I'm just like, huh. Tell me more about how all of this works. And how long do you put it up for you? Is it daily? What's the regimen? You do it daily. Well, this is how it worked for me. I did it daily for about three weeks. And then after that, it's just maintenance. It's once a week or once every two weeks.

You got that and you're let spin and, you know, you get some hormone replacement therapy or you do some supplements that you like. And then you find out you can be back off to the races, you know, juicy as peach all again. But you just have to know the things to do. Right. So that you don't like become a desert. You have to just know. And when we know, we will do. Right. So, you know. Don't go anywhere because we got more What Now? after this. What Now?

For like a woman at home who's maybe like in her early 70s, is it too late for her? Can she jump on this train and try the V-Fit and the gel and the hormone replacement therapy? Because sometimes it feels like the conversation is geared to 40s to like late 50s. She can certainly jump into the V-Fit. She can do the let's spin. Hormones, that's something she'd have to talk to a doctor.

menopause doctor about to be sure because I have heard that if you don't start the therapy early enough, that's when it can be an issue if you start too late in life. 70, maybe too late. That's not what I should be answering today. I think that's what you need to go talk to a menopausal doctor about. So the message is actually we need to, to women, as early as possible be on this journey. And start thinking about it at 35. At 35, because you know our childbearing years are 25 to 35. And at 35, that's when

the estrogen starts to leave and we have to start realizing, okay, this peri is coming upon us. So at 35, I think we have to start talking to our doctors. If they're not talking to you, talk to them, get the right doctor and start talking about it. What can I do so that I sail through to this moment, right? And that I don't suffer the way the women before me have suffered. Before we lose you, I'd love to know how this journey has been informed by or has affected you

your professional slash sort of life journey. And I know the two are connected, but I can't help but see all the links between them. You know, like Christiana and I will talk about all the time with, let's say, pregnancy or motherhood and how it clashes with the way we've built corporate life and companies.

And you're in an industry that's unique, but at the same time isn't really in some ways. In that, like, you know, if you're a woman in Hollywood, if you're a woman in certain jobs, you know, how you look, how you're perceived, how you're seen affects your ability to work or not work. And I'd love to know how have you navigated a world that has told you you don't hold as much value and

When you're building up all these other different facets of yourself that do hold value. Because there's a moment before Respin where Halle Berry is, as you said, you found another thing and this is your second act. But I'd love to know how you were navigating that experience because it can be a scary one for people in all walks of life. I just think Hollywood gets all the shine. But I think many people will experience that where they go,

oh, I didn't know what to do once my kids left for college. I'd always identified as a mom and I was raising these kids and now they're gone. And I just realized now my career as a mom is sort of over in that way. Or someone goes, oh, I've now gone back to the office. And, you know, my career is this, oh, I've left the office. And I'm struggling with the way the world has now changed its perception of me. I'd love to know how you

how you navigated it, what you experienced and what you learned. And if you learned something from this part of it, that's sort of helped you, or if it was part of the reason that Respin started.

It's certainly part of the reason that Respin started. I struggled to understand what this company was. I knew it was always Respinning everything we thought we knew, but I didn't have a there there. I didn't have the real purpose of what the there there was. And when I realized that menopause needs the biggest Respin of all, then I realized, oh, that's why I've been building this company. Even when I didn't know why really, I figured out why, which lets me know that it was happening, you know,

to me and for me because I didn't really have it thought out, but yet I was building something, which is why I know it's chosen me. I just had to get caught up to it, right? But it chose me, clearly. Was there a part of you that was afraid, though, that you were, you know, because you're building this thing, but there's also this other world that you've, I mean, you're an Oscar-winning actress. Like, let's never forget that. Do you know what I mean? Like, you're an Oscar-winning actress. History-making. History-making, Oscar-winning actress. So it's not even...

you know it's not like oh yeah you act and it's not like you're a good actor no no you can't get high it's a gold medal at the olympics do you get what i'm saying so i i wonder like how much fear was attached then how are you dealing with that yes you're making respin but before that you're letting go in some ways of something and you know you don't know what that journey will or won't be and so i i think a lot of people would be would be served by knowing like

You know, just how did Halle Berry figure out what for many people is a really tough time in their lives before you find the next thing? But I think this goes back to the thing I said earlier, and that is being born a black woman. I feel like I have always felt like I sat at the bottom of society. Damn. Right. White man, black man, white woman, black woman. So I've always felt at the bottom.

Never feeling like I was defeated because I was at the bottom. Never feeling like I couldn't dream big because I was at the bottom. Never feeling like I wasn't worthy or capable because I was at the bottom. But I always have known that I'm going to have to work 10 times harder than everybody else to get anywhere. Just to get a step up from the bottom, I'm going to have to work harder than a white man or a white woman or a black man. I'm going to have to work that much harder because we sit at the bottom.

And so that feeling, I think, has been what has propelled me my whole life. I've never been afraid of hard work. I've always known that anything was possible if I decide that it's so.

I've always known my worth and my value, even when I've been struggling and I've been afraid, because I knew what my core values were all about. I had a fifth grade teacher. Her name is Yvonne Sim. She's a beautiful black woman that took me under her wing when I was 10 years old. And everything that makes me me is her, that she took the time to pour into me. And you know how I knew I was valuable? Because this...

teacher who didn't have to take time. She wasn't my mother. She didn't bring me into the world. She didn't owe me. But because this beautiful, smart, wise woman took me under her wing and invested in me, she poured that into me and that gave me value. I knew I must be special. I must be of value. If this woman would take her time,

every day after school to pour into me, pour into me, pour into me, pour into me. And that's what I've carried. I've known that worth and that value from a very young age. That's beautiful. And I haven't allowed people to dim my light, even when I've gone through shit. We know the things I've gone through. Many of them have been public. I'm going through shit right now. I don't care. It's just things that you go through, you grow through, you learn. That's why we're here, right? But I've always just known I have value here and I have a purpose here.

So finding Respin and finding this cause of menopause is like, oh, another one of my purposes. Like winning that Oscar that time, I was chosen to do that too, to open that door. I knew it was bigger than me, right? I hope this year someone stands next to me this year. I hope it happens because I'm tired of occupying that space alone. I hope this is the year, right? But even if it's not, I was chosen in that moment to be a beacon of possibility, right?

And I do think it served that purpose. And I think I'm sitting in this moment also talking about menopause and telling my own story and being bald and bold. It's also to be a beacon of possibility as where we can go as women and what we deserve now.

and knowing that we're more than this show, right? That we are complicated. We are beautiful. We are strong. We deserve a second act. We deserve all things good. We've raised our children. We sacrificed our bodies, right? We've given what we have to give. I can't believe we live in a world that now says, we got nothing for you. Sorry. I don't believe that, right? But I know we have to change that for ourselves. And I realize this is my second act purpose, right?

to help change that narrative. That's my purpose. That's amazing. A teacher poured into you and I feel like you're now pouring into everybody else. Yeah. And you poured into us. This was...

more fun than I could have expected I'm so happy to be here this is so much fun I wish you could stay longer I know you'll come back I will come back you'll come back there'll be more respin I can see it it's gonna like I want the supplements that's what I'm ready for it's infinite that's the next thing we're doing see we're working on it I knew it it's infinite we're working on it okay great it's gonna be thank you so much for joining us and thank you for sharing thank you for pouring your hearts out thank you you know thank you for being you thank you I appreciate it

What Now with Trevor Noah is produced by Spotify Studios in partnership with Day Zero Productions. The show is executive produced by Trevor Noah, Sanaz Yamin, and Jody Avigan. Our senior producer is Jess Hackle. Claire Slaughter is our producer. Music, mixing, and mastering by Hannes Brown. Thank you so much for listening. Join me next Thursday for another episode of What Now? What Now?