Halle Berry has been having some candid conversations about women's health.
The former Bond Girl recently attended the 'A Day of Unreasonable Conversation' summit alongside the likes of Kerry Washington, Jane Fonda, Paris Hilton, Cord Jefferson, and First Lady Jill Biden.
Speaking with Biden, Berry shared her experiences of menopause and how she was originally misdiagnosed with something else when she first started getting symptoms.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), menopause is natural part of aging and typically happens in most women between the ages of 45 and 55 years.
When Berry was 54, the actress started dating musician Van Hunt - whom she hailed as 'the man of [her] dreams'.
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Sharing some details of their sex life, the now 57-year-old recalled having pain during intercourse, sparking her to pay a visit to her doctor.
"I feel like I have razor blades in my vagina. I run to my gynecologist and I say, 'Oh my God, what's happening?' It was terrible,” she recalled on Monday (March 25).
"[My doctor] said, 'You have the worst case of herpes I've ever seen.' I'm like, 'Herpes? I don't have herpes!'"
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She and Hunt then both underwent herpes tests, which both came back negative for the sexually transmitted disease.
Berry later learned that what she'd been experiencing was a symptom of perimenopause.
"My doctor had no knowledge and didn't prepare me," she said of the condition which affects two million women in the US each year.
"That's when I knew, ‘Oh my gosh, I've got to use my platform. I have to use all of who I am, and I have to start making a change and a difference for other women."
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According to Bupa UK, vaginal dryness is just one of a handful of symptoms that come with being perimenopausal.
Others include changes in your menstrual cycle, hot flashes, dizziness, and difficulty sleeping.
Noting that she's been able to manage her diabetes for decades, Berry admitted that she had hopes that she was going to avoid menopause.
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She said: "I'm in great shape. I'm healthy. I managed to get myself off of insulin and manage my diabetes since I'm 20 years old. So that makes one think, oh, I can handle menopause. I'm going to skip that whole thing. I was so uneducated about it at that time."
While menopause can be viewed as 'dirty little word', Berry hopes to change the stereotypes surrounding the condition.
"This is a glorious time of life," she insisted.
Topics: Halle Berry, Sex and Relationships, Health, US News, Celebrity
Niamh Shackleton