Halle Berry criticized California governor Gavin Newsom for \u00ab\u00a0devaluing\u00a0\u00bb women during a live appearance.<\/b>
\nHalle Berry went off on Gov. Gavin Newsom in a fiery speech, claiming he doesn\u2019t value women and he shouldn\u2019t be the next president.
\u201cBack in my great state of California, my very own governor, Gavin Newsom, has vetoed our menopause bill, not one but two years in a row,\u201d the Oscar winning actress said onstage at the New York Times\u2019 DealBook Summit on Wednesday, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
\u201cBut that\u2019s OK, because he\u2019s not going to be governor forever, and the way he has overlooked women, half the population, by devaluing us, he probably should not be our next president either,\u201d she added as Newsom, 58, took the stage at the same event later that day.
Izzy Gardon, a spokesperson for Newsom, told The Post on Wednesday that he \u201chas deep admiration for Ms. Berry\u2019s advocacy and looks forward to working with her and other stakeholders on this critical issue.\u201d
\u201cHe shares her goal of expanding access to menopause care that too many women struggle to get.\u201d
\u201cHe vetoed the bill because, as written, it would have unintentionally raised health care costs for millions of working women already stretched thin \u2014 something he\u2019s determined to avoid.\u201d
Gardon continued, \u201cWe\u2019re confident that by working together this year, we can expand access to essential menopause treatment while protecting women from higher bills.\u201d
Page Six has reached out to representatives for Berry and Newsom.
The \u201cDie Another Day\u201d actress \u2014 who has been an outspoken advocate for menopausal women in recent years \u2014 has championed the Menopause Care Equity Act.
The bipartisan bill, which Newsom vetoed in October, would have required all-encompassing health insurance coverage for women seeking treatment in their menopausal and perimenopausal years.
The bill also would have required physicians to receive menopause-related education on an ongoing basis, and the California Medical Board to create a menopause-based curriculum to that end.
The actress, 59, previously shared that she was misdiagnosed with herpes during her perimenopausal years \u2014 typically between the mid forties and fifties for most women, leading up to menopause, per the Mayo Clinic.
During a February appearance on the \u201cDrew Barrymore Show,\u201d Berry recalled experiencing vaginal dryness while dating Van Hunt, leading to painful sex and extreme discomfort while urinating.
The \u201cCatwoman\u201d star recalled Hunt, 54, driving her to a doctor because she was \u201cso swollen.\u201d
After the doctor told her she had \u201ca really bad case of herpes,\u201d Berry recalled \u201c72 hours\u201d of bickering with Hunt over who was to blame for the faulty diagnosis.
The doctor eventually called Berry to set the record straight. \u201cHe said, \u2018You do not have herpes,\u2019\u201d she told Barrymore.
\u201cAnd I was like, \u2018OK then, what is it?\u2019 And this was the defining moment for me, he said, \u2018I don\u2019t know, that\u2019s what it looked like.\u2019\u201d
\u201cAnd that sent me on my own reconnaissance and my own researching and that\u2019s when I came up with Dry Vagina Syndrome, that women have when they are in perimenopause,\u201d Berry divulged. \u201cAnd I had all the symptoms of what that felt like.\u201d
She previously recalled the incident in 2024, telling Dr. Jill Biden that \u201cI realized after the fact that is a symptom of perimenopause,\u201d during A Day of Unreasonable Conversation summit in Los Angeles.
\u201cMy doctor had no knowledge and didn\u2019t prepare me, that\u2019s when I knew, \u2018Oh my gosh, I\u2019ve 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.\u2019\u201d
Berry ultimately launched the Respin platform, which educates and provides information about the menopause process for mature women.
\u201cI felt like there was something really missing in the market for women in midlife,\u201d Berry told Time magazine in February.
In March, Berry declared that women should celebrate the milestone of no longer having a monthly period.
\u201cWhen a woman realizes that she\u2019s in the menopause \u2014 you know, 365 days, and you know you\u2019re in it \u2014 it is their duty to give that woman a \u2018shiesta\u2019 to celebrate her, like we do every other milestone in our life,\u201d Berry told podcast host Tamsen Fadal\u2019 during an episode of \u201cThe Tamsen Show.\u201d<\/p>\n