Halle Berry opens up about shocking misdiagnosis: ‘Worst case of herpes the doctor had ever seen’

Halle Berry has opened up about a doctor claiming she had the “worst case of an STD” he had ever seen.

Halle Berry attends the Los Angeles premiere of "Moonfall" at TCL Chinese Theatre on January 31, 2022 in Hollywood, California. Kevin Winter/Getty Images/AFP

Halle Berry has revealed that a doctor told her she had one of the “worst cases” of an STD that he had ever seen.

Berry revealed the shocking story when she sat down for chat about women’s health at Monday’s A Day of Unreasonable Conversation summit, which also featured Kerry Washington and Jane Fonda.

Halle Berry has revealed she was once diagnosed with one of the “worst cases of herpes” a doctor claimed he had ever seen. Picture from Getty.

At 54, Berry met the “man of her dreams”, current partner Van Hunt.

Shortly after they met, Berry recalled having extreme pain after sex and decided she needed to visit the doctor to find out why.

However, she was stunned when the male doctor told her she had the worst case of herpes he’d ever seen.

Following the diagnosis, she and Hunt were both tested but neither of them had herpes.

After much research, Berry explained: “I realized after the fact that is a symptom of perimenopause”

Berry said that what the doctor had thought was herpes was actually pain caused by vaginal dryness.

“My doctor had no knowledge and didn’t prepare me, that’s when I knew, ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve 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.’”

Meanwhile, the Oscar-winning actress recently claimed that she wasn’t taken seriously at the beginning of her career because of her good looks.

“I came from the world of beauty pageants and modelling and right away when people heard that I got discounted as an actor,” she told W magazine.

Berry revealed that she had been misdiagnosed and was actually suffering from perimenopause symptoms. Picture by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images.

“Actually, my boyfriend at the time wanted a beauty pageant girlfriend,” she revealed. “So he entered me and I got this letter in the mail saying, ‘You are a finalist in the Miss Team Ohio,’ and I thought, ‘Uh, what is this?’ And then he told me, ‘Oh, by the way, I sent your prom picture in and now you have to go’.”

Berry said she managed to get some credibility within the entertainment industry by seeking out roles that “didn’t really rely on my physical self at all”.

But despite her credibility, Lee Daniels had no interest in casting Halle Berry in his 2001 movie, Monsters Ball.

“Lee Daniels didn’t want to see me read,” the actress said.

“He was actually disgusted by the thought. He thought there’s no way and my argument to him was, just because someone looks a certain way doesn’t mean that they are spared adversity. Adversity does not discriminate.

“I thought, ‘My looks haven’t spared me one hardship or one hurt moment or one painful situation. So please, you know, give me a shot at this’. I said, ‘I often think it’s more interesting when you see someone that looks a certain way struggle in ways that you wouldn’t think they would be struggling with’.”

Berry went on to win an Oscar for her role in the film, becoming the first African-American actress to win an Academy Award.