Halle Berry’s Perimenopause Path

0:00This episode was recorded at the 2025 DealBook Summit. This year's DealBook Summit sponsors include Premier Sponsor Accenture, Associate Sponsors U.S. Bank, Vanguard, Invesco QQQ, and University of Michigan, Supporting Sponsor Capital One, and Contributing Sponsor Invest Puerto Rico.

0:25Our culture thinks that at 59 years old, I am past my prime, and that women my age start to become invisible. In Hollywood, in the workplace, on social media, women are pressured to stay forever 35. But the question is, for whom? This is Andrew Ross Sorkin with The New York Times, and you're listening to interviews from our annual Dealbook Summit, recorded on December 3rd in New York City.

0:57Hello. Good afternoon. I am so delighted to be here. I want to preface my talk by saying this is probably going to be the only talk you're going to hear today that is not going to be about AI at all. So just a disclaimer. So, you know, when I doom scroll, and I do doom scroll, I know I should stop, but I doom scroll. I can often feel like the world is falling apart. And you know what I'm talking about. Right now, it's kind of scary out here in these streets. And I worry, but I am an eternal optimist. So I'm always looking to find something good in every single day. So that brings me to today. What's happening good today that I know of?

1:42Well, that big, beautiful Christmas tree is going to be lit in Rockefeller Center. That's a good thing, right? I think I'm going to check it out. That's amazing, right? Also, another good thing that happened recently, do you know who Olivia Dean is? She's this new, young, very talented recording artist. Well, she just did something that made me wildly happy. She got wind that Ticketmaster was raising her ticket prices, precluding some of her fans to come to see her, and some of them paid$1 ,000 a ticket. That was 14 times the regular price Ticketmaster was trying to get over. And you know what she did?

2:21She went to her social media and she talked about it. She said this was vile and it was wrong. And guess what Ticketmaster did? They lowered the prices back down to a realistic price and they refunded all the tickets that were sold at that high price. What that said to me was, wow, she had the courage as a brand new young artist to stand up and fight for herself and fight for her fans. And to me, that was a wonderful thing for a young woman to have the courage to do. So that brings me to why I'm here today. Because in 2025, there is a lot to still be talked about and discovered and uncovered, especially if you are a woman who is navigating midlife and thoughtfully considering your longevity.

3:10Because in 2025, I, Halle Berry, and women of my age are simply devalued in this country. Our culture thinks that at 59 years old, I am past my prime and that women my age start to become invisible. In Hollywood, in the workplace, on social media, women are pressured to stay forever 35. We're complimented if we seem to be aging backwards or defying gravity, as if that's even possible, and if we somehow manage to look younger than our years we're suggesting that that's the gold standard that our worth should be measured by. We're encouraged to contort our bodies and our faces in truly extreme ways to chase this elusive fountain of youth.

3:57And sadly, I have to admit, I too feel this pressure every single day. I feel it. I feel that pressure to change myself in order to stay seen, relevant, and desirable. But the question is, for whom? for myself, for other women, for men, for the workforce? I don't know. But what I do know is as long as I let my worth be defined by my physical self, I am in a losing battle. Because the truth is we cannot turn back for other time. And guess what? We shouldn't have to. When we allow ourselves to be manipulated into believing that our exterior is more important than our interior, our health included, we run the risk of becoming hollow beings that have nothing of value to offer.

4:47As women, you've heard this before, but we should be allowed to age gracefully just as you men are allowed to do. We should be celebrated for our accomplishments and appreciated for our wisdom. Our health should be prioritized to support our longevity because when we do that, half the population lives longer and in good health, which in turn has a profound positive impact on culture and society at large. Now, at almost 60, I deeply understand that aging is a privilege. I also deeply understand that if I don't fight, if women don't fight to get the quality health care that we need and that we deserve, that privilege ultimately may become a source of our greatest suffering.

5:33So I know you're all looking at me and you're saying, why? Why me? Why am I standing up here having this talk? And why am I fighting? Why am I fighting? Well, I think I am singularly built to fight, especially this fight. And I've been training for this fight my whole life. There's something that I know you don't know about me, but when I was growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, I was very much bullied. I got into so many fights. And sometimes I gave as good as I got, but most of the time I got beat up. And so one day I knew I was going to get jumped by a gang of girls. And I knew that because they found me in the hallway, they cornered me, and they said, girl we're gonna beat your ass after school you better not get off that bus so it was evident what was going to happen and the girl that said that was in the sixth grade and already six feet tall so you kind of know what was going to happen I did too but I got on my bus got off my bus right down the street from my house.

6:47And that girl, that big one, that six-foot-tall one, she got off, too, with four of her girls and three boys. And they started following me down the street. And I kept my head and my eyes to the ground because I knew that first blow was coming. I just didn't know when it was coming. But I knew it was coming. And then all of a sudden, I felt a supersized fist. Bam! and I did the wiggle down. I was out. I hit the ground. And while I was down there, they ripped off my shirt, exposing my little breast buds to the boys. And then I knew in this moment, oh, that's why those boys got off this bus. They're part of it.

7:34While I was down there, they ruthlessly kicked me and kicked me and kicked me and kicked me and kicked me. until I found myself in the sewer that was the water that ran outside in front of my house. And as they walked off laughing, I was left to pick myself up shirtless out of the gutter. And I did that, but I was humiliated because I had allowed myself to be treated this way. I made the choice to accept it. I didn't tell anybody when they told me they were going to beat the shit out of me. I just said, okay. I deserve it, I guess. I'm just going to take it. I have no choice. But as I was walking home, I said, no.

8:23I am never, ever, never. I'm never going to allow this to happen to me again. I am never not going to stand up for myself. I will never allow myself to be a victim like that. And since I was in the sixth grade, I have never allowed myself to be misused or abused or mistreated in any way. That's why I've been divorced four times.

8:52But I didn't go back that next day fighting fire with fire. I was smarter than that. I can't fight a six foot taller when I'm four feet tall. So no, what did I decide to do? I decided to outthink them and outwork them. I would always be one step ahead of them, and I would never again be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I would never allow fear to distract me from standing up for myself. So what did I do? I became class president. I made the honor roll every year. I was editor of the school newspaper. I was a cheerleader, mascot. I even became the school symbol of beauty by becoming their first black prom queen.

9:28So my childhood was proof that when you stand up and you fight for yourself, you can change everything. And let me tell you what happens when you stand up and you fight for yourself. You attract people who will fight right along with you. Which brings me to when I was 54 years old and I found out that I was smack dab in the middle of perimenopause with no warning, mind you. Okay? My body started screaming that it was shutting down. And I looked around and I realized that I had some badass people standing beside me that were ready to do battle with me. They held me up when I couldn't sleep. And I was raging as a result because sleep deprivation is actually a form of torture.

10:07And a big part of menopause is raging. Like you're raging against the cage. You don't even know what you're mad about, but you're just mad every day. I couldn't remember simple words. I would be embarrassed in conversations. I couldn't remember, you know, what a noun was. Like, I was just, I felt like I was losing it. I was scared. I felt alone. They held me down when I flooded my laundry room three times because I walked in the room and forgot to turn the water off. I did it three times. They held me down when I went to go pick up a pizza for my kids and I left it on top of the car and drove all the way home.

10:45My kids were happy the pizza was still there, but I mean, God, I was terrified that I had the ability to do that. But when sex, sorry guys, I'm going to say it. When sex started to feel like I had razor blades inside my vagina, a very common symptom of menopause, and it was misdiagnosed as herpes because my doctor didn't know what was happening. That was the moment that everything snapped into focus for me. Because if I and my doctors had such little information and had no answers at all about what was happening to my body, I was sure that there were other women out there wandering through this same darkness without a roadmap.

11:32I mean, let me ask you this honestly. Can you imagine if men had a medical condition that disrupted their sleep, brain function, and sex life, we'd be calling that a health crisis on par with COVID. And the whole world would shut down until they figured this shit out. And you know it's right. You know it's right. You know, you guys got that blue pill when you needed it real quick. Just saying. So my misdiagnosis was my aha moment. and I said, oh my God, Hallie, here you go again. You're going to have to stand up and fight. But this time, this fight isn't going to be just your fight. You're not fighting that six foot taller all by yourself anymore.

12:11You are going to be doing the fight of your life because you are going to be fighting for millions of other women. Now, my most personal weapon in my fight right now has been to form a company called Respin Health. Respin is a place where women can finally get all the answers they need. They can talk to doctors who are menopause experts. They can find real science-backed solutions and products at work. ReSpin is where women learn to advocate for their health from a place of knowledge, strength, and power. So essentially, as a founder, I'm building for myself what I wish I had 10 years ago, with the knowing that it's going to help generations and generations to come.

12:50So I'm also fighting when I go to Washington and I introduce a bill that will ensure that$275 million go towards research and medical education. I'm also fighting on a state level when I help states like Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Illinois stand up menopause bills. Actually, a good thing that happened yesterday, Illinois just became the first state to mandate coverage for HRT, which is hormone replacement therapy. But, yes, that's something of... Absolutely. Absolutely. But the opposite of that. And back in my great state of California, my very own governor, Gavin Newsom, has vetoed our menopause bill.

13:32Not one, but two years in a row. But that's okay. Because he's not going to be governor forever. And with the way he's overlooked women, half the population, by devaluing us in midlife, he probably should not be our next president either. Just saying. I need every woman in this country to fight with me. But the truth is, the fight isn't just for us women. We need men too. We need all of the leaders, every single one of you in this room. This fight needs you. We need you to stay curious. We need you to ask questions. We need you to care. Even when the topic feels unfamiliar and uncomfortable, we need you to have the conversation anyway.

14:16Because when women are struggling silently through perimenopause and menopause, trying to hold their families, careers, relationships, and communities together, it doesn't just affect women. It affects every household. It affects the workplace. It affects the economy. One in six women leave the workplace due to their menopausal symptoms. So it affects everybody. It affects all of you in this room. And the research is clear. When men understand what women are going through, women feel less alone and more supported. And when women rise, we all rise. At Reespin, we've built tools, resources, community, designed not just for women, but for partners, leaders, and allies to understand what a woman is going through at this very pivotal time of her life.

15:02So today, I'm going to challenge you, each and every man and each and every woman in this room, I'm going to challenge you to take a minute and ask your wife, ask your sister, ask your mother, Ask a colleague. Ask any woman that you care about. And I really want you guys to do this, okay? Ask her how she's feeling. Ask her how she's really feeling. Dare to ask her if she's in menopause, if she's in perimenopause. What is she feeling? What are her symptoms? And watch what happens. She is going to light up like that Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center. I promise you that. Why will she light up?

15:46because she will feel seen, and that's the best gift you could give her. She will thank you. I promise you she will thank you, and if you feel like you need an excuse, you can go ahead and tell her that your friend Hallie told you to do it. I would love to have that credit. So in closing, I'll just say this to you today. Today I am proudly on a new bus. Respin is my new way to fight, and the attitudes about menopause, the way women are treated in midlife, well, that's the new gutter. And I'll be damned if I'm going to allow myself or any other woman to be kicked back into another gutter. So I'm encouraging women, be bold, be loud, ladies.

16:37Refuse to be diminished during one of the most important seasons of your life. The days of outliving men by doing it in poor health are over. Why? Because we simply deserve better. We are half the population. Because at this stage in my life, I have zero fucks left to give.

17:03and I am gonna fight like hell because my longevity depends on it the longevity of my daughter depends on it the longevity of women everywhere depend on it thank you so very much for listening

17:30Deal Book Summit is a production of The New York Times. This episode was produced by Evan Roberts. Mixing by Kelly Piccolo and Katie McMurrin. Original music by Daniel Powell. The rest of the Deal Book Events team includes Julie Zahn, Hilary Kuhn, Melissa Tripoli, Beth Weinstein, Angela Austin, Haley Hess, Dana Prukowski, Matt Kaiser, Chantal Rainier, and Yan Wei Liu. Special thanks to Sam Dolnick, Nita Lassam, Christina Josa, and Maddie Maciello.