Halle Berry Opens Up About Being 'Smack Dab In the Middle of Menopause'

In a new piece she penned for Women's Health, which was published on Monday, the actress got candid about "embracing" the changes in her life and "owning" her sexuality, sharing that she's her "best self" at 56 despite being "smack dab in the middle of menopause."

This important transition period in a woman's life marks a change in hormone levels, usually after the age of 40. Although all women are affected differently, it can result in symptoms like hot flashes, fatigue, irritability, and insomnia, according to John Hopkins Medicine.

"The most important thing about owning your sexuality as a woman is accepting the station you're at -- and embracing that," Berry said. "And I say that because I'm smack dab in the middle of menopause. And I am challenging everything I thought I knew about menopause. Things like: 'Your life is over.' 'You are disposable.' 'Society no longer has a place for you.' 'You should retire.' 'You should pack it up.'"

"I'm challenging all those stereotypes about how you have to look a certain way or feel a certain way. I'm my best self now that I reached 56 years old," she added. "I have the most to offer. I have zero blanks to give anymore. I'm solidly in my womanhood. I finally realize what I have to say is valuable, even if no one else agrees."

The Oscar winner -- who is mom to daughter Nahla, 15, and son Maceo, 9, -- also shared her thoughts on societal pressures put on women to have children.

"If you're in your mid-thirties, don't be bogged down by the idea that you have to have children by a certain age," she said. "You decide."

"And if you want to have children, you don't have to be defined by those old ideologies that this is what women 'have' to do," Berry continued. "Do it only if you want to, because you give up a lot of your personal life to growing those other lives. And maybe you're not a woman who wants to do that. No harm, no foul, no judgment."

"Be clear about who you are and how you wanna live your life because it's yours and yours alone to live," she added.

Meanwhile, Berry also opened up about how her experience directing the 2020 film Bruised has changed her approach and perspective when it comes to whether or not she'll take on a project.

"I'll never go back to being the person I was before I became a director," she said. "You cannot go back to just being the dancing bear. It's impossible. I've done several productions since directing Bruised. And I realize I always have my director hat on."

"You need a solid 'why' to ask me to do something," she continued, adding that she now "challenge[s] every script" sent her way. "I ask, 'What's the female point of view?' Because so many of these scripts today are still written by men. Men are writing roles for women. They're writing roles for characters that they do not understand.

The Monster's Ball star encouraged those who many not understand the female POV to "open your mind, expand your reality, and hear my point of view. And take that into consideration."

Read Berry's full piece, here.