Halle Berry wants Gavin Newsom to shine a light on menopause.

Halle Berry, alongside her menopause advocacy brand Respin Health and supplement company Perelel Health, launched the “Turn Up The Heat” campaign to urge Governor Newsom to sign AB 432, a bill requiring health plans to cover menopause-related treatments.

Academy Award winner Halle Berry has increasingly become a leading voice for menopause awareness—a stage of life many women experience after 50. Now, she’s turning to politics to amplify the message, starting with California Gov. Gavin Newsom, according to Politico. Together with her advocacy company Respin Health and supplement brand Perelel Health, Berry launched the “Turn Up The Heat” campaign to urge Newsom to sign AB 432, a bill authored by Democratic Assemblywoman Rebecca Bauer-Kahan that would require health plans to cover menopause-related treatments.

With hopes high for passage in the final weeks of California’s legislative session—after Newsom rejected an earlier version in 2024—the bill includes incentives for doctors to pursue specialized menopause training beyond their standard medical school education.

Berry says the lack of menopause education has taken a toll as she navigates this stage of life. The first Black woman to win an Academy Award for Best Actress revealed that she endured years of misdiagnosis and spent thousands of dollars before finally learning at 54 that she was experiencing perimenopause.

“It’s sort of a desert island for women in midlife,” Berry said. “We’re half the population, and we’ve gone far too long being ignored. It’s really a human rights issue.”

Through the campaign, Respin and Perelel Health are urging action—sending emails to customers and posting on social media to rally support for AB 432. They encourage people to contact Gov. Newsom directly, hoping it will push him to sign the bill if it reaches his desk.

“By sending this letter, you’ll send a message to Sacramento that California women deserve the care, understanding, and resources to navigate menopause with dignity and health,” the campaign states. “Together, we can close the gap in care and create a future where no woman is left to face menopause alone.”

Menopause marks the stage when a woman’s menstrual cycle gradually slows and eventually stops, signaling the end of fertility—typically between ages 45 and 55. This transition can bring dozens of symptoms that may appear up to a decade earlier, along with hormonal shifts affecting everything from hot flashes to heart and immune health.

Halle Berry, long regarded as a Hollywood sex symbol, stepped into the role of menopause advocate in May 2024 when she stood on the steps of Capitol Hill, backed by female members of Congress, and declared, “I’m in menopause!” according to Forbes. In her speech, she emphasized that this stage of life can be just as empowering and sexy as a woman’s 30s or 40s—with the right education and understanding.

“For so long, people have put me in this sex symbol box,” Berry said. “For someone like me to openly talk about menopause, which has been so stigmatized, and say, ‘Hey, it’s sexy to reach this stage—it’s actually a privilege to age,’ I hope I’m giving women the courage to embrace it. We don’t have to chase eternal youth. I mean, who really wants to stay 30 forever?”

Berry isn’t fighting this battle alone. The legislative push began in 2023 with the bipartisan “Advancing Menopause and Mid-Life Women’s Health Act,” a proposed federal bill that would have dedicated $275 million to menopause research. But with Donald Trump’s return to the presidency, advocates like Berry’s team had to shift their focus.

Even so, conversations with state leaders haven’t slowed. Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Patty Murray (D-WA) plan to reintroduce the legislation this October for Menopause Awareness Month, working alongside Berry. “We will keep pushing, and we will keep going to Washington and doing what we’re doing, but we really feel like we can get real things done on a state level,” said the mother of two.

“It’s a smaller bite, it’s a tiny win, but all of these tiny wins will add up to the big win.”