- 4 months ago
Halle Berry remains the only Black woman in history to win an Academy Award for Best Actress, but these days, she is laser-focused on her second act in women’s health. It’s a mission of both advocacy and entrepreneurship that began when her own perimenopause was misdiagnosed as herpes and she realized just how much more awareness both doctors and patients needed about this crucial (and, for those who live long enough, universal) life stage. Berry’s vehicle is Respin, originally a wellness and exercise website she founded in 2020 but which relaunched this February as a menopause-focused healthcare company. With less than $5 million in funding from investors including Khosla Ventures, Respin is still in its earliest days—telehealth visits just launched in July and revenue is still mostly non-existent—but Berry is feeling invigorated by the task of growing and scaling her startup. “This is my greatest act. And I couldn't have imagined that this would be my greatest act because I think as women, we've been afraid to age,” says Berry.
0:00 Introducing Halle Berry
1:10 The Misdiagnosis That Sparked Respin
4:54 Why Advocacy and Education Are Crucial for Change
7:11 Becoming The Messenger: "It's A Privilege"
10:09 Competing In The $24 Billion-Dollar Menopause Market
12:22 How Past Fights Prepared Berry For Business
15:20 Actor vs. Entrepreneur: Which is Harder?
16:50 Defining Success: Changing The Culture
18:45 Building A Legacy Of Breaking Barriers
19:46 The Powers Of Being Over 50 In Business
Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/50over50/
Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.
0:00 Introducing Halle Berry
1:10 The Misdiagnosis That Sparked Respin
4:54 Why Advocacy and Education Are Crucial for Change
7:11 Becoming The Messenger: "It's A Privilege"
10:09 Competing In The $24 Billion-Dollar Menopause Market
12:22 How Past Fights Prepared Berry For Business
15:20 Actor vs. Entrepreneur: Which is Harder?
16:50 Defining Success: Changing The Culture
18:45 Building A Legacy Of Breaking Barriers
19:46 The Powers Of Being Over 50 In Business
Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/50over50/
Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Halle Berry, you are an Oscar award-winning actor, an entrepreneur, and an advocate.
00:14Thank you so much for sitting down with Forbes for the 50 over 50.
00:17What an honor this is. Thank you for having me.
00:20Most people know you as an actor first, but in your 50s, you've embarked on a second act.
00:27Tell us, how is life as an entrepreneur?
00:31This is my greatest act.
00:33I couldn't have imagined that this would be my greatest act because I think as a woman, we've been afraid to age.
00:41We've been afraid what those later years offer us.
00:44And so I've been amazed to find out that my 50s, my second act, is really my best act.
00:50And being an entrepreneur is part of that really inciting change and really fighting for what I'm so passionate about.
01:00It's not just making a movie. It's about changing culture.
01:03It's about changing the future for women, for my daughter, for other women like myself.
01:07And that just feels really, really meaningful.
01:10Now, this entrepreneurial journey started with a misdiagnosis.
01:13A doctor told you that you had herpes when, in fact, it was perimenopause.
01:19Yes. Imagine that.
01:21Imagine that.
01:22It was perimenopause. Herpes perimenopause.
01:25A little bit different.
01:26And it shows the lack of knowledge and part of why you've become an advocate.
01:30But earlier this year, you relaunched ReSpin, your wellness company, into ReSpin Health.
01:35And I would love to talk to you about what you are trying to achieve with this company.
01:39Can you tell us about ReSpin Health?
01:40We are trying to be your one-stop shop, all things menopause.
01:48Because what I've learned on this journey is that every woman menopause is in a different way.
01:54There's no two ways you can go through it.
01:56There's 100 symptoms of menopause.
01:58We all go through ups and downs.
02:00We go through cycles of it.
02:02There's so many myths around it.
02:04We start much earlier than we believe we start.
02:06And we are in it sometimes two decades, some women.
02:10It all depends on genetically what your mother went through, what her mother went through.
02:16So I think if we get ReSpin right, we are that one-stop shop.
02:20We help women get on HRT.
02:22We give them coaches.
02:24We hold their hand.
02:25We give them state-of-the-art scientific information so that women are making choices for themselves
02:29from a place of knowledge, a community.
02:32Because we all know that women do better when they have the support of other women sharing stories,
02:38uplifting one another, feeling like we're in a tribe together.
02:41We're not facing this sometimes very scary time of life alone, but we're really supporting and uplifting each other.
02:47So I heard HRT.
02:50I heard coaching.
02:51So it's really holistic.
02:52There's nutritional advice.
02:53Nutritional advice.
02:54Exercise.
02:55Yes, all of it.
02:56Because as we talked about, you have to exercise differently when you're down the path of life.
03:01You have to change the way you eat.
03:02And it's not really about a diet.
03:05It's about really changing your lifestyle to sort of be your best self.
03:10Because in midlife, your body actually changes into another version of itself.
03:13So you have to feed it differently.
03:15You have to work it out differently.
03:16You have to take different hormones or supplements.
03:19You have to feed it differently in many different ways.
03:22A lot of that is knowledge that you are trying to get more of the public to acknowledge.
03:27And the medical industry as well.
03:29And last year, you spoke on Capitol Hill.
03:31And you yelled, I'm in menopause.
03:35And that was about 14 months ago.
03:37So I'm curious, have you seen any early returns on that moment or this advocacy?
03:43I know it's a life's work.
03:45But where we sit right now in July 2025, are there any verifiable results that you have?
03:51I do see, yes.
03:52There's been some state changes made state by state.
03:56Our state, you know, local officials and politicians are putting legislation into action
04:02that are helping women get their medical appointments covered.
04:05We're working really hard to get HRT covered.
04:08I'm realizing now it's going to be a state-to-state battle.
04:12On a national level, that might be really hard, especially with the new administration
04:15and all the cuts that they're making.
04:17So we're realizing that we have to go state by state and get our local legislators to really
04:22understand how important it is for women to get the help that they need.
04:25And I mean, and the truth is, you know, and I hate to make this about men and women because
04:30it's really not.
04:30It's a human rights issue.
04:32But when men had penile dysfunction, they got that blue pill like that, and it's covered
04:38by insurance.
04:39There is no reason in the world that HRT should not be covered by insurance so that every woman
04:44can get the help that they need.
04:46It's no different than Viagra, really.
04:48It's what helps us stay in optimum good health, and we need it.
04:51And it's our right to have it.
04:54So is that why you've embarked on advocacy alongside entrepreneurship?
04:57Because you need the education in order to grow your company?
05:01We need education.
05:02We need federal and state funding dollars.
05:05Doctors need to be retooled.
05:06You mentioned my misdiagnosis.
05:09Yes, that's true.
05:09And I can't say I really blame my doctor.
05:12He was a wonderful doctor, right?
05:14He just didn't have the education because only 13% of doctors in our country really understand
05:18the menopausal body.
05:19It's one chapter in medical school.
05:21So you can't really blame them.
05:24But as the years go by, we will be able to blame them because when you know better, you
05:28do better.
05:29And we're talking about this loud and proud now, right?
05:32Women are coming out of the shadows.
05:35We're not afraid right now to start asking for what we need.
05:39I think doctors are starting to hear about this more and more.
05:42It's incumbent upon them to go back and get retooled and get the education that they never
05:46got because half the population makes it to midlife as women.
05:50And we deserve health care.
05:52We deserve doctors that actually know how to treat our bodies.
05:56You ask yourself, is that too much to ask?
05:58No, it's not.
06:00It's really not.
06:01We deserve that.
06:02It's one of the only things that if you live long enough is a universal condition for this
06:07female body.
06:08Now, I want to ask you, as Halle Berry, looking at her week, you are an advocate and an entrepreneur.
06:13How do you decide how to split your time and where to lend your voice and platform?
06:18You know, it just really depends on what opportunities come up for me to speak at.
06:24There's so many health clinics that I get invited to speak to to help educate, you know,
06:28our health care community, to help educate, you know, journalists like yourself to help
06:33get the word out.
06:35I sometimes go speak with just women during this time of life to help educate them and
06:40get them fired up to take their health into their own hands.
06:43So it really just depends on what's available for me to actually speak at.
06:49What opportunities do I have to go to Washington to actually speak to our lawmakers and speak
06:54to Congress when they're available?
06:56And from the re-spin business part, that's every day, all day.
07:01That never shuts down.
07:03We're a young, new business, and it takes a lot of my attention.
07:07And I'm here for it.
07:10100.
07:10I've heard you also say that you are the perfect messenger for menopause advocacy.
07:16Why do you say that?
07:18Because I'm unafraid to speak about it.
07:21And I think for so long, people have, I think, put me in this sex symbol box.
07:30And I think for someone like me to speak about going through menopause, which has been so
07:35stigmatized, and if I can say, hey, it's sexy to be at this, to arrive to this time of our
07:41life.
07:41It's actually a privilege to age.
07:44And we can really do that in a beautiful, confident way, I think makes a difference.
07:48And I think people are listening to me, and I think women are listening to me, and I hope
07:52I'm giving them the courage to stand tall and accept that this is a wonderful part of
07:58aging, and that we don't have to stay eternally 30.
08:01I mean, who wants to stay eternally 30?
08:03And when you ask women to do that, we don't ask men to do that.
08:06But when you ask women to do that, you're really setting us up to do the impossible.
08:10So you're setting us up for failure, and therefore furthering how bad we feel about ourselves.
08:16And that just can't be our story.
08:18We've got to change that as women.
08:21You are not the only person in Hollywood speaking about menopause.
08:24But if you look at some of the other celebrities who are speaking out, a lot of them are white.
08:29What do you think is missing from the conversation?
08:32I just think more people having the courage to, you know, talk about it, you know, it's
08:41been taboo.
08:42And especially in Hollywood, as a woman, you know, when we got 40, we've been made to believe
08:50that our careers were pretty much over.
08:52So if you're talking about someone like me, or someone almost 60, talking about menopause,
08:58and still expecting to, you know, lead a film and get great acting roles, I think it's scary
09:04for many of us.
09:05I know when I first told my team that I was going to start talking about menopause, some
09:10of them, their first reaction was, oh my God, it's been hard enough for you, being a black
09:15woman all these years, now you want to talk about menopause?
09:18And I said, I absolutely want to talk about menopause.
09:21It's exactly where I am.
09:23And I absolutely want to talk about it.
09:25Did anyone tell you, don't do this?
09:27It's a huge mistake.
09:28Well, sure.
09:29But they also told me, don't do Monsters Ball, and they got me an Academy Award.
09:33So I've never listened to that.
09:35I marched to my own drum.
09:36And it was true for me.
09:38I was horrified when I got misdiagnosed and found out that at 54, I had probably been in
09:43perimenopause since I was 40, and nobody dared talk to me about it and prepare me.
09:48And I thought, I can make movies, hopefully, for as long as I want, I hope.
09:53But fighting for a cause like this, fighting for women's health, that, to me, seems like
10:01a legacy worth leaving.
10:03That will make me feel like I really took this life and I really did something meaningful
10:07with it when I got the chance to do that.
10:09We talked about how many women go through menopause.
10:12And I do think more founders and businesses are waking up to the market opportunity here.
10:17There are some estimates that it will be a $24 billion market by 2030.
10:23And earlier today, in fact, CVS announced that 6,000 of its U.S. stores will be carrying
10:29menopause and perimenopause products from a UK healthcare company.
10:34Now, my question to you is, compared to CVS, ReSpin is a smaller startup.
10:41Do you worry about the big guys jumping into this market and taking what ReSpin is going
10:47after?
10:47There's so much to be had.
10:50There's so much work that needs to be done in this space.
10:53I think, no.
10:54No.
10:54We're all greater together right now.
10:56It's so nice and it's so new.
10:57There's so nothing for us that, no, I don't worry about that.
11:00And I also don't worry because ReSpin is doing something very special.
11:04We're not just selling things, right?
11:06We're creating a community.
11:08We're creating a database.
11:09We have information.
11:10We have science.
11:11We have doctors.
11:12We have what I think other companies don't have right now.
11:16So, no, I'm not.
11:18I think there's room for all of us to help educate women.
11:21I asked your co-founder a similar question.
11:23And she said that our concern is not the 500,000 women who are accessing menopause services already.
11:31It's the millions and millions of women who don't have access.
11:35So, I'll ask you a similar question that I asked her.
11:37How do you reach those millions and millions of women who feel locked out of the medical industry or don't know where to start?
11:44Well, that's what we're trying to do.
11:46We're trying to make it easy for them to access it.
11:48So, by coming to ReSpin, most people now have a computer or a cell phone.
11:53Everybody has one today.
11:55So, for those women in those rural countries that can't get access to, like, menopausal experts, they can come join us at ReSpin with the click of a button.
12:02And we can take them down so many pathways to, one, get education and then hold their hand and help them come up with a plan that will work for them.
12:11And for us, we think that's also part of our secret sauce because we have it all available.
12:16We've done the work and then women can come and they can just sort of reap the benefit.
12:20Now, you mentioned Monster's Ball, but you have a lot of other experience that I see as kind of breadcrumbs that lead up to ReSpin.
12:29You raised money when you were directing your directorial debut.
12:34You were the chief communications officer for Pendulum Probiotics.
12:39Do you draw on those experiences in the day-to-day growing and scaling of ReSpin?
12:44I do.
12:45And I also did one thing, too, that made me get ready for my advocacy.
12:49I got the law changed in California, the stalking law, because my daughter was being so harassed by paparazzi.
12:55And I went to Sacramento and got a bill called 606, a Senate bill passed.
13:00And I learned through that experience how hard it was to incite change.
13:04I mean, I never worked harder in my life than getting that bill passed because everybody told me in California it's their amendment rights.
13:10You'll never stop the paparazzi from photographing your child.
13:13But yet, I was able to get that done, and I know how hard that was.
13:18I knew the hours that it took.
13:20I knew sort of the lobbying that that took.
13:23And so I know that I'm not—that's why I'm not afraid to go to Washington.
13:28I'm not afraid to stand on Capitol Hill and shout, I'm in menopause, and sit with those Congress members and those senators and help them understand how important this is.
13:37And I'll go back and I'll go back until it gets done.
13:40And, you know, that might take 10 years.
13:43Who knows before we'll get real new appropriations handed out to women at this time of life.
13:50Who knows?
13:50But I know I won't stop because I know it can be done because I've done it.
13:55You know it can be done because you've done it.
13:57Those are powerful words because it can be hard for someone to make a jump to become a founder in their 50s.
14:02What do you say to someone who's thinking about making a similar jump?
14:08I have found that the best founders and the best companies start with that founder who had a real need.
14:15It wasn't about making money.
14:17It wasn't about selling something.
14:19But it was about creating an answer for a need that they had.
14:27Those are the founders that I find that stop at nothing because they need that problem to be solved for themselves or for someone they love dearly, like their child.
14:39I've seen people go really, really far and be relentless in their pursuit.
14:43And I feel like ReSpin came about for me, ReSpin Health, is because I had a need.
14:48I want to be here for my children.
14:49I started late in life.
14:50I want to live my life to the fullest, and I want to be in good health.
14:54I don't want to be like millions of women who live longer than men but in poor health.
14:58I want to be here and be in good health and have all of my faculties.
15:02That's very important to me.
15:03And it occurred to me, if that's important to me, I'm sure that's important to millions and millions of other women.
15:09So by helping myself, I'm actually helping them too.
15:12Now, in your acting career, if my math is right, you've broken at least 10 bones and have been knocked out three times.
15:19So is it fair to call you a fighter?
15:24Yes.
15:25And knowing what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur, do you think it's harder to be an actor, a successful actor, or a successful entrepreneur?
15:35Ooh, I, you know, they're probably neck and neck.
15:38I haven't, you know, I don't know.
15:40That's a good question.
15:43I'll find out.
15:44I will find out.
15:46I will find out for sure.
15:47But I also know that, you know, fighting is in my, it's in my blood.
15:55I, in high school, I fought my way through high school.
15:58I've been sort of that, that person for most of my life.
16:03So I'm not afraid of fighting.
16:04It doesn't, it doesn't scare me one bit.
16:07You're not afraid and you're pretty resilient.
16:08Those are two pretty critical components to entrepreneurship, I would say.
16:13Yeah.
16:13And being patient.
16:14You know, I've also heard, I've talked to other founders who, you know, I'm understanding you have to be nimble.
16:20You think you have one idea and one way to, you know, skin that cat.
16:24And then you learn as you go and then you change and you have to be nimble and be able to pivot, you know.
16:29And I think we're learning with ReSpin.
16:31We had one idea, but we're learning as we go, oh, but women actually want this.
16:36And we're talking to our community.
16:38We're talking to our members.
16:39What do you really need?
16:41What do you want?
16:42And so we're learning to pivot and to listen.
16:45I think listening is really important too.
16:47You talk about patience and growing a company.
16:49As you think about ReSpin's future, what does success look like in your mind?
16:54And how do you think about measuring that, especially compared to maybe some of your competitors?
17:00Well, our biggest goal at ReSpin is to change culture.
17:03If we do that, regardless of how much money or whatever the company becomes valued at,
17:10if we change culture, that will be success for me.
17:13And changing culture means that women are no longer ashamed of their midlife years and growing older,
17:20that we realize we don't have to stay eternally 30 and we stop doing all these things to our body and face
17:26that make us look like monsters, that we can be loud and proud.
17:30We can talk about it without shame with our coworkers, with our spouses, with our children.
17:35And we can realize and embrace that this really is the best time of our life.
17:42And not just say it as a talking head, but really know it and feel it.
17:46That we are our best selves right now.
17:49And that this age is really what constitutes that.
17:53Do you have an image in your mind or maybe do you imagine a moment that will signal to you
17:57that the culture change has happened?
17:59Is it a conversation that you imagine?
18:01Is it a scenario?
18:02When I'm all over Instagram and I'm hearing that women are having siestas,
18:07like we talk about baby showers, if a siesta is as common as a baby shower or a wedding shower
18:12or a bachelor party or a bar or a bad mitzvah, then I'll know we've made it.
18:17Because a siesta is when a woman realizes she's in menopause
18:20and her family throws her the biggest party she could imagine.
18:23She's having a siesta.
18:25When those can become commonplace, women will have changed culture.
18:29Did you have a siesta?
18:30I'm not in menopause yet.
18:32I'm still in Perry.
18:32But when I get in menopause, you better believe it.
18:34My family is going to give me a siesta.
18:37They already know it.
18:38They already know.
18:39They already know.
18:39Planning has to be in process.
18:41Yeah.
18:41Think about it now, people, because, yeah, I'll have one.
18:44Earlier, you mentioned your legacy and how entrepreneurship can build a legacy for you.
18:49What do you want that legacy to be?
18:51I would love to leave, not only for culture but for my children,
18:57a legacy of a mom who often felt behind the eight ball.
19:02I think being bored a black woman, I felt very much behind the eight ball.
19:06And I want my legacy to be that nothing is impossible, that all obstacles can be met and you can achieve whatever it is you set out to achieve.
19:20I've broken down barriers for my entire career and that I want them to realize that never stops.
19:26For as long as we're here, we can continue to push ourselves to grow, to learn, break down barriers, change the world.
19:33We have the possibility to always do that for as long as we're taking a breath.
19:37It's an important message, especially at this moment in time, politically.
19:42Oh, yes.
19:43Say that.
19:45We do have a few questions that we ask everyone on the 50 over 50, and I'd love to ask them to you now.
19:50Oh, okay.
19:51Is being over the age of 50 an advantage or disadvantage in your line of work?
19:58One would say it's a disadvantage in my line of work, but I'm finding all the ways to see it as an advantage.
20:05What's one of those ways?
20:08I can say what I want to say and have no fear.
20:13No fear.
20:14And that has been serving me really, really well.
20:17I can show up as my authentic self and not be afraid to do that.
20:21When you were in your 20s and 30s, did you ever imagine your career after the age of 50?
20:26And if so, what did it look like?
20:28I didn't imagine it.
20:30Nobody talked about it.
20:32I was, I think, afraid of getting older.
20:36And I didn't think I'd be working.
20:39I thought I would be retired by the time I was 50.
20:43And I'd be somewhere sipping Mai Tais, somewhere, you know, reading novels.
20:48I had no idea that I would be this energized and this charged up or starting a business.
20:56But that I would have the possibility to do that, especially as a woman.
21:00What's your advice to women in their 20s and 30s who either don't see their 50s and can't imagine it or who feel like they have to rush to fit in every last accomplishment before they turn 40?
21:12I would say, first of all, midlife and menopause is coming for you.
21:17No woman escapes it.
21:18I thought I would miss it.
21:19And what a rude awakening that was.
21:22And I would say pace yourself.
21:24Take care of yourself.
21:25Take care of your mind, body, your spirit.
21:27Honor your body.
21:28It's the only one you have and that life should be long and you can do all the things you want to do.
21:34Maybe not all at once, but at the end of the day, you can look back.
21:38And if you stay focused, you can, you will have been able to have done all the things that you wanted to do.
21:44Helen Berry, thank you so much for your time today.
21:46We so appreciate it.
21:47Thank you very much.
Be the first to comment