Halle Berry Launches New Project That Dares to Rebrand Menopause
Award-winning actress Halle Berry has launched a new project, Respin which aims to help women suffering from menopause. Her startup company is designed to guide women through menopause and is making waves at the federal level.
Menopause to Berry, now 58, was something of a nightmare. At 54 years old, Berry experienced perimenopause, which precedes menopause and can cause symptoms such as mood changes, hot flashes, and more seriously, bone loss. She bounced around many doctors and stayed misdiagnosed for four to five years before finally receiving the correct diagnosis.
In a Time Magazine interview, Berry acknowledged the struggle to get help. “I had no answers, no one to turn to. I was floored to find the dearth of nothingness in this space—and how little doctors knew. I thought I had the best doctors I could have.”
That feeling of not having the answers and nowhere to turn pushed Berry to make a change. On the website’s homepage, Berry writes, “Menopause impacts over half the world’s population, and my goal is to inspire women like you to embrace this natural transition with the support they deserve — years before your first hot flash.”
What exactly is Respin? First launched on The Today Show, Respin is defined as “A community for women to talk to each other and learn from each other. But there is also a health component with health coaching, nutritionists, and experts to talk about exercise and learning how the lack of estrogen and changing hormones affect our heart, brain, bones, and entire body.”
Respin offers women access to a private, expert-led community of peers to encourage dialogue about menopause, and to seek expert advice and care from menopause specialists for $18 per month. In addition to Respin, Berry also launched Respin Health, which designs personalized plans for healthy living and personal coaches for $100 per month.
Since its founding, Respin has made waves across the country. With eighteen bipartisan cosponsors, Respin pushed the Advancing Menopause Care and Mid-Life Women’s Health Act in 2024 which would allocate 275 million dollars over a five year period for menopausal research.
However, the road to Respin was not a smooth one. The Catwoman star admitted that there were doubts among her peers, who believed that being vocal about menopause would ruin her career. “Do you want to align yourself with menopause? Do you worry about that will impact your career? And I said no, and that’s exactly why I should be talking about it.”
While the company is still in its early stages, its future looks bright. Halle Berry wants millions of women struggling with menopause to know, “We just need education to help us navigate through that time.”
