Halle Berry shouted it in front of Capitol Hill, the seat of the American Congress: “I’m in menopause, okay?”. The actress has joined a bipartisan group of female senators to support legislation that would direct $275 million to menopause research and education. The federal government is being asked to invest more in clinical trials of menopause and hormone therapy used to treat symptoms.
The actress is 57 years old and says: «We need to eliminate the shame of menopause. We need to talk about this very normal part of our lives that happens. Our doctors can’t even pronounce the word menopause, let alone guide us through the journey».
Already a few months ago Halle Berry had spoken about her experience with perimenopause, recounting a doctor’s misdiagnosis during a conversation with first lady Jill Biden at the Day of Unreasonable Conversation summit in Los Angeles. «My doctor had no knowledge of it and did not prepare me. That’s when I realized, “Oh my God, I have to use my platform. I have to use everything that I am and I have to start making a change and a difference for other women.”
Perimenopause, the period of time before menopause, can begin as early as age 40 and can last up to 10 or more years. According to the U.S. Office on Women’s Health, the average age for menopause is 52. The legislative proposal supported by Halle Berry, with Democratic Senator Patty Murray of Washington and Republican Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, says that $125 million in federal funding would be set aside for clinical trials, public health and medical research into menopause. The bill is supported by 17 female senators: three Republicans, 13 Democrats, one independent. The hope is that the bill will also encourage doctors, women and men, to talk more openly about women’s health.
For Halle Barry, male support would be fundamental. «If men had entered menopause we would have adequately and appropriately funded menopause research decades and decades ago» the actress said. Until the 1970s, few women entered clinical trials, and women’s health needs were thought to be a low priority. A 2022 study found that women still make up only 29% to 34% of some early-stage clinical trials due to fertility concerns. In March, President Joe Biden signed an executive order on women’s health research, which focuses specifically on increasing research on women’s health and improving the management of menopause-related issues.
