I’m excited about the new season of Bridgerton, get hype! [LaineyGossip]
Andrew Scott is so attractive, but these photos are kind of bad. [JustJared]
Paul Mescal loves some shorty shorts. It’s happening in tennis too – the return of really short shorts on men. I love it!! [OMG Blog]
Who is randomly punching women in New York? [Jezebel]
The conversations around Sydney Sweeney are utterly bizarre. [Pajiba]
A Simple Favor is getting a sequel. [Buzzfeed]
Sean Combs’ “drug mule” was arrested. [Socialite Life]
Kristen Stewart & Dylan Meyer froze their eggs. [Hollywood Life]
Mick Jagger’s reaction to that terrible “Moves Like Jagger” song. [Seriously OMG]
Zendaya wore Lacoste!! Now I need her to do a photoshoot with Daniil Medvedev (who is sponsored by Lacoste). [RCFA]

After Reuters, Associated Press, AFP and Getty “killed” Kensington Palace’s “Mother’s Day photo” of the Princess of Wales, everyone said we were in a brave new world when it comes to the lack of credibility and trust in palace-issued photos, videos and information. One week later, Kensington Palace once again tried to pass off questionable “proof of life” media, in the form of a very strange bystander video published by The Sun and TMZ, of “Kate and William” leaving the Windsor Farm Shop. That blew up and created even more conspiracies and chatter.

Then, last Friday, KP released Kate’s bench video, where she spoke to camera about having cancer and starting a round of chemotherapy. Shockingly, perhaps, the video was taken at face value by mainstream media, as if the previous weeks of shenanigans were all washed clean. That being said, social media was a different story. Last weekend, people studied the cancer-announcement video like it was the latest Zupruder film. Theories abound about whether it was an AI deepfake, or whether a greenscreen was involved, or whether the audio was edited. The video was apparently filmed by a crew from BBC Studios (not BBC News), and the BBC will only confirm that they filmed it. Beyond that, the BBC hasn’t answered any questions on the record about whether there were edits or whether other manipulations (green screen, filters) were also employed. Well, the Washington Post had a pretty evenly-reported story about the social media conversations and conspiracies: “Princess Catherine cancer video spawns fresh round of AI conspiracies.” Some highlights:

Social media investigators: When Catherine, Princess of Wales, released a video statement last week sharing that she had been diagnosed with cancer, some users on social media said they regretted engaging in wild speculation about her prolonged public absence. But others jumped immediately to a new conspiracy: The video was generated by artificial intelligence. Users on TikTok, X and Facebook shared videos pointing out alleged AI breadcrumbs, such as a ring disappearing and reappearing on Catherine’s hand. Others said her hair moves unnaturally, or that the bed of daffodils in the background is suspiciously still.

WaPo got KP on the record: BBC Studios, a TV production arm of the BBC, has confirmed that it filmed the video of Catherine’s message last week at Windsor Castle, and Kensington Palace told The Washington Post that accusations of AI tampering are “factually inaccurate.” Multiple deepfake forensics experts agreed, saying they examined the video and found no signs of AI manipulation. “All of these armchair forensic analysts out there that are claiming that they find evidence of AI manipulation, it’s a spectacular combination of ignorance and arrogance,” said Hany Farid, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley who specializes in analyzing digital images. Farid said he reviewed the video and found “absolutely zero evidence” that AI was involved.

TikTok is discouraging the conspiracies: Earlier this week, TikTok appeared to be funneling users away from searches related to such allegations. A search for “Kate Middleton cancer ai” instead showed results for “Kate Middleton cancer.” The user then had the option to proceed to results for the original search. TikTok declined to comment.

The deepfake theory: Wael Abd-Almageed, a professor of AI at Clemson University who develops deepfake detection software, said he and a student ran the video through their detector and found no indications of AI content. Abd-Almageed slowed the video down to examine it manually, again finding no evidence of AI tampering. If details such as her ring appear fuzzy, he said, it’s because of motion blur and the video’s compression. Another expert, Hao Li, CEO and co-founder of generative AI video-effects company Pinscreen, agreed that the video appears to be authentic, noting the bugs that fly in front of Catherine’s face and the subtle swaying of yellow flowers in the background.

Another AI expert: Only one AI expert contacted by The Post offered support for the suspicions: Deepfake detection start-up Deep Media, which has contracts with the Pentagon, said it found a “high likelihood” that Catherine’s voice and face were manipulated with AI. But other experts — including Farid, Abd-Almageed and Claire Wardle, co-founder and co-director of the Information Futures Lab at Brown University — reviewed Deep Media’s findings at The Post’s request and said they found the results unconvincing.

A suggestion for shutting down conspiracists: Given that even disinformation experts now find it challenging to assess the authenticity of online content, Brown’s Wardle urged institutions such as Kensington Palace and the BBC to do more to publicly validate the images they share before online conspiracies gain traction. The continuing conjecture around Catherine underscores the difficulty of assessing what’s real in an AI-enabled media landscape, she said — as well as the risks of relying on deepfake detectors to separate fact from fiction. “Most people don’t have access to tools that do this kind of analysis,” Wardle said. “And even people who are saying they have these tools, they’re absolutely not 100 percent certain by any means.”

[From WaPo]

“Brown’s Wardle urged institutions such as Kensington Palace and the BBC to do more to publicly validate the images they share before online conspiracies gain traction.” This is what I said days ago – it was a good sign that the BBC was brought in to film Kate’s message and the hope was that the BBC would do more to lend THEIR credibility to a credibility-challenged palace which had just been involved in multiple faked/questionable photos/videos, not to mention the weeks of lies from palace sources. Instead, the BBC is being squirrelly about what was done to the video and only unnamed “BBC sources” will say that the footage hasn’t been tampered with. We’re way past the moment when we could take the palace’s word that everything we’re seeing is legitimate and above-board (although I appreciate the fact that WaPo got the palace to say, lol, that the deepfake allegations are “factually inaccurate”). There should have been – and there still should be – more of an effort to validate the videos and photos released by all of the palaces from here on out.

Screencaps from KP video.

In about six weeks, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex might be in London for a very special Invictus Games anniversary service at St. Paul’s Cathedral. The service was announced, in a suspiciously roundabout way, back in February. It was packaged with the news that the British government has made a big, splashy bid to host another Invictus Games, this time in Birmingham. The first Invictus Games were held in London in 2014, and Veterans Affairs Minister Johnny Mercer is making a huge effort to bring the games back and use the games to invest more resources in British veterans. I’ve said before that while I believe Mercer’s motives are above-board, the whole “church service and Invictus bid” situation seems like a massive trap. The British government and British media are desperate for Sussex storylines and control, however fleeting, of Harry, Meghan and their children. This is all happening simultaneously as the British government has repeatedly refused to guarantee security for the Sussexes if and when they visit. Well, anyway, a date has been set for the anniversary service:

Prince Harry is set to speak at the Invictus Games 10th Anniversary Service to be held at St. Paul’s Cathedral on May 8. Express.co.uk has seen a copy of the official St. Paul’s Cathedral schedule with the Invictus Games event listed as taking place on Wednesday, May 8 at 5 pm. We have also learnt that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are listed as guests on the official running order and the Duke of Sussex is set to speak at the service.

“The dates and details are being kept very hush-hush, but the Invictus Games 10th Anniversary Service has now been confirmed at St. Paul’s Cathedral on May 8,” the source said. “Both Harry and Meghan are listed as guests and a speech has been scheduled, but there is still a question mark over whether Meghan will make an appearance. Her name has been pencilled in as a TBC (to be confirmed).”

The source adds that the 10th anniversary London service is being seen as a gentle push for Harry and Meghan to start weaving their way back into Britain’s consciousness.

“This event is being seen as a very important part of Harry and Meghan’s rehabilitation,” the source said. “It’s viewed as an important event that is almost on par with what a working royal would undertake. It’s a worthy cause where Harry is the key ambassador, and it will be a good starting point for the Sussexes to repair relations with the royal family and the British people at the same time.”

It was revealed last month that Harry was in talks to return to the UK for the service at St Paul’s Cathedral to mark a decade of the charity and that he very much hoped it would include Meghan and their two children, Prince Archie, four, and Princess Lilibet, two.

“The children’s attendance is still up in the air because they will only visit the UK if their mother [Meghan] decides to attend,” the source said. “Harry is hoping that they will join him so that they can all enjoy the service, and everyone can meet up with members of his family while they are over.”

If the Duchess of Sussex were to attend, it would be her first visit to the UK since Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral in September 2022 and the children’s first since the Platinum Jubilee in the same year. The Sussexes’ children reportedly have next to no relationship with Harry’s family, so this could be a key visit.

“Charles and Camilla have very good relationships with their other grandchildren, and everyone is keen for them to have a stronger bond with Archie and Lily,” the source said. “Both Harry and Meghan are keen for the children to become closer with Harry’s family, but she’s very anxious about returning to England.”

[From The Daily Express]

The framing is giving me a panic attack and I’m not involved whatsoever. They’re really framing this as Harry and Meghan WANT to come in for the anniversary service, that they should feel grateful for the opportunity to be snubbed, maligned, harassed, abused and targeted again, because they must “repair relations” with their abusers and tormentors. This piece alone has convinced me that the anniversary service wasn’t even Harry’s idea and he’s probably only loosely confirmed his attendance – this is Mercer and the Tories trying to force him to visit. God knows the extent of the trap these people have set up. Anyway, hope Meghan and the kids stay far, far away. Harry too. It would be amazing if he canceled at the last minute.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

Some people are still talking about the suspicious bystander-video from two weekends ago, allegedly of Prince William and Kate leaving the Windsor Farm Store. You have to remember, initially the story was just a random sighting with no photos or videos. The Sun carried the story as an exclusive, having clearly been briefed by Kensington Palace that Kate and William were out and about in Windsor two weekends ago, pinkie-swear-promise. When everyone reacted to the Sun’s exclusive with “pics or it didn’t happen,” The Sun magically produced a grainy, weird video 24 hours later, allegedly taken by a bystander. When the video came out, the reaction was immediate, with everyone questioning whether that was really Kate (or William). Even Andy Cohen tweeted, “That ain’t Kate….” A BBC Sports reporter publicly questioned why British media was insisting that a random brunette speed-walking through Windsor was totally Kate.

In the days before Kensington Palace released the Kate-has-cancer video, there really was a growing consensus that the farm shop video was some kind of bizarre set-up using look-alikes. Then, last weekend, the Sun’s editor admitted that they (the tabloid) were “in discussion with the palace all along,” i.e., this was some special collaboration between palace and tabloid to (arguably) fake a Kate sighting. The story has largely subsided this week, post-cancer video, but Bot Sentinel and Spoutible founder Christopher Bouzy has still been raising hell about it on social media. Bouzy started out last week, merely questioning the Sun’s methodology in obtaining the farm-store video and wondering if anyone had bothered to verify any part of the story. Then the British media began attacking Bouzy as “Sussex pal” who was “attacking Kate.” There’s been a back-and-forth between Bouzy and the British media for more than a week. Then, on Wednesday, he published a thread about the Sun’s video, which you can follow below:

It’s time to debunk the farm video.

This is Nelson Silva, the man who filmed the Windsor Farm video. In this clip, he claims he typically goes to the farm shop on weekends. So far, so good… pic.twitter.com/5zXzeIoQV0

— Christopher Bouzy (spoutible.com/cbouzy) (@cbouzy) March 27, 2024

I’m not going to embed the whole thread, but the point is that the guy who “filmed” the farm store video keeps changing his story and there are huge inconsistencies about how and why he even filmed the couple. The video itself is weird too, which Bouzy points out – there’s no reason for a zoomed-in video of two people, taken from roughly 20-30 yards away, would be that grainy and blurry. As I’ve now watched the clip dozens of times, I wonder why Kinesiology Twitter hasn’t embraced this conspiracy: that is not Kate’s gait, and that’s largely because Kate’s legs are not as long as this mystery woman’s legs.

Here, you can see the male subject look directly into the camera and look down immediately, followed by the female subject. They both look at the camera, but still, their faces are not clear. That doesn’t make sense… pic.twitter.com/KpS6zdgbSN

— Christopher Bouzy (spoutible.com/cbouzy) (@cbouzy) March 27, 2024

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, covers courtesy of the Mail and the Sun.

My mother was a huge fan of Princess Diana, and she still loathes every single thing about Queen Camilla. Mom recently asked me how Camilla was coping with Charles and Kate’s health issues and I answered her honestly: Camilla has never looked happier, she’s practically glowing, she looks a decade younger. All of which is true! Never more true than today, where Camilla went solo to Worcester for the Easter Maundy service. She is now the first queen consort to pass out the “Royal Maundy money” on behalf of the monarch. While QEII skipped a couple of Maundy services during her reign, her heir always stepped in for her, nor her spouse. But it’s a brave new royal world.

Anyway, yeah, Camilla honestly looks great. If you told me she got some Easter Botox and fillers, I would believe you. She looks less jowly and more apple-cheeked than she has in decades. My one complaint is her recycled hat – she wears that stupid hat constantly and it gives me Jamiroquai vibes. But the Fiona Clare coat is great, the boots are great and I like her brooches too. The brooches are pieces from QEII’s collection. Interestingly enough, the Worcester News published photos of Camilla’s royal helicopter arriving in town. Usually, the British media avoids mentioning or publishing photos of the Windsors’ helicopter usage.

Oh, and Camilla did get protested at the Maundy service. As promised, Republic staged a decent-sized demonstration outside the cathedral.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images and Backgrid.

Reportedly, Taylor Swift & Travis Kelce shut down the WeHo Dogpound gym so they could have it to themselves for two hours, while other gym members waited outside. This honestly doesn’t sound like them? [Hollywood Life]
Gigi Hadid was out & about in NYC this week. [Socialite Life]
Oh, Under the Bridge looks good! [LaineyGossip]
I love Keira Knightley’s glasses in these photos. [Just Jared]
A review of Netflix’s 3 Body Problem. [Pajiba]
The worst looks of the 2024 awards season. [Go Fug Yourself]
New music from Tierra Whack. [OMG Blog]
Joely Richardson wore Hermes and it’s not good. [RCFA]
Two more seasons of Hell’s Kitchen. [Seriously OMG]
A Seeking Sister Wife star’s father is an infamous cult leader. [Starcasm]
Different generations age differently, but I never realized that John Travolta & Oprah are the same age (both 70). Bruce Willis is one year younger than them! [Buzzfeed]

As someone who will be seated for multiple viewings of Challengers, I’m not pleased by how little energy Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor are bringing to the promotion. These photos are from the first premiere event for Challengers, which was held this week in Sydney, Australia. Zendaya flew her ass to Australia for this?? And Josh and Mike can’t even bring some drama or chemistry to the photos??

Zendaya’s green “tennis dress” in these photos is from Loewe and I’m surprised that it’s so… straight-forward and themed. People are in love with this dress and I just find it kind of obvious. I mean, it’s flattering and sexy, but I hope Zendaya and Law Roach play around a little bit more with her promotional styling for this film. Josh is also involved with Loewe (he’s modeled for them) so I hope he gets some interesting looks for the tour as well. People are also talking about Zendaya’s newly lightened hair. It looks good? I like that she didn’t go too light.

One cool thing about Zendaya’s Challengers promotion is that she’s been showing up to big tennis tournaments for much of the past two years. I think she’s become a legitimate fan of the sport. She was just in Indian Wells last weekend for the men’s and women’s finals there, and she posed with Iga Swiatek after she won the women’s title.

Josh and Mike really saved all of their flirty energy for the screen and nothing more!

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

Since Shakira’s split from Gerard Pique, the gossip media has tried to put Shaki with several celebrity men. There were rumors that Tom Cruise was interested in pursuing her, there were rumors that Shakira and Lewis Hamilton were possibly seeing each other. Then, last week, Shakira posted some photos from her latest music video shoot – pics with the actor Lucien Laviscount, who she cast in the video. Lucien is a British actor known primarily – to me! – as Alfie in Emily in Paris. He was/is lovely on that show and he’s a good looking guy. Everyone thought “wow, that’s good casting for a music video.” But as it turns out, it looks like Lucien might be Shakira’s new boyfriend.

After Shakira’s Times Square show last night, she stepped out with Lucien and the paparazzi got lots of photos. They went to dinner at Carbone, then they went to Mulberry. If I’m being honest, Lucien did not look into it by the end of the night – he seemed a bit shellshocked by all of the paparazzi. Judging by the wealth of photos, a lot of photographers were out to document Shakira and her new man. In case you’re wondering about the age difference – Lucien is 31 years old, Shakira is 47. I mean… he seems like he would be a lot of fun. That’s how he comes across in Emily in Paris – like a sweet, uncomplicated guy. We’ll see!

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Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

Tina Brown was in rare form in the weeks before we learned that the Princess of Wales is being treated for cancer. Brown appeared on CBS just after the Mother’s Day photo fiasco, where she declared that “the wheels have come off” Kensington Palace and that the whole operation was “flailing.” Then Brown went to England last week to do some media and she was pretty brutal on Prince William and Kate’s whole operation and the lack of dignity. While she was in the UK, it looks like Brown caught up with her royal sources, because she’s been especially chatty post-cancer-video. Brown wrote an op-ed in the New York Times about all of the sh-t that’s gone down and how Will and Kate are dealing with “intense anxiety” behind the scenes because they are not prepared to be king and queen. I get that… but I still believe there’s a tremendous amount of clownery happening. Some highlights:

The Mother’s Day frankenphoto fiasco: After The Associated Press issued a kill notification on the botched photoshopped image of a suspiciously glossy Princess of Wales surrounded by her beaming progeny, there was a typical outburst of tabloid pomposity questioning whether Kensington Palace could ever be considered a trusted source of news. Huh? When was the last time any tabloid considered the palace a trusted source of news? As the editor of Vanity Fair in 1985, I wrote a piece revealing that Prince Charles and Princess Diana were having awful marital fights. The palace roundly denied it, and the royal couple denied it in a television interview, confirming in my mind — correctly, as it turned out — that it was all true.

Turmoil behind the scenes: I am told the turmoil behind the scenes has been intense, resulting in what has felt like a series of baffling press screw-ups. We hear often of Prince Harry’s hatred of the press. If possible, Prince William — while concealing it better — hates the press even more. His bloody-minded determination to stick to his grandmother Queen Elizabeth’s script of “never complain, never explain” is magical thinking in the era of the social media maelstrom, creating a vacuum filled by rumor and deranged conspiracy theories.

Anxiety: The almost simultaneous news of Charles’s cancer has put William and Catherine in frightening proximity to ascending the throne just when they had hoped for a span of years to parent their children out of the public eye. The prospect of it, I am told, is causing them intense anxiety. Help from other family members is scant, aside from the redoubtable Princess Anne, Charles’s sister, and the good-egg Gaiety Girl Queen Camilla. The slimmed-down monarchy that Charles always promoted is suddenly looking very lean indeed. The combination of the Harry and Meghan clown show in Montecito, Calif.; the fusillades from Harry’s memoir, “Spare”; and the disgrace of Prince Andrew — who has little social contact with anyone except his horse — have put William and Catherine under unmanageable pressure.

The weakness of today’s monarchy: It may not be a popular thought, but in many ways I blame the predicament and weakness of the monarchy today on Queen Elizabeth. It’s possible that future generations will see her as the Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the British monarchy. She stayed too long, and by doing so, left behind a legacy that may be the opposite of what she wanted. The time for Elizabeth II to step down was not long after her Diamond Jubilee in 2012, the year I have come to think of as peak London, when Britain dazzlingly hosted the Olympics.

Elizabeth loved being queen: No, Elizabeth II loved the world of politics and power as much as she did breeding horses and tramping the heather of her Balmoral estate. But her 70-year reign has left a pileup of heirs infantilized by too little to do and trapped by a dusty structure that should have been reformed decades ago.

William would have had more to do if he became Prince of Wales in 2012: And William, instead of taking over the Duchy of Cornwall estates in his early 30s and creating a space for the popular Harry to develop a strong portfolio of his own, ended up in a rivalrous relationship with his younger brother that exploded irretrievably when Meghan Markle entered the scene. A less hidebound palace might have come up with a more creative way to solve the Sussex imbroglio.

Frozen: Catherine is battling more — much more — than cancer. A tidal wave of premature responsibility is crashing in her and William’s direction. Frozen, unready and with Catherine now seriously unwell, the Prince and Princess of Wales await the awesome burden of the crown.

[From The NY Times]

Even though she couches a lot of this in “poor Catherine,” she’s actually spilling some interesting tea – William and Kate are frozen and don’t know what to do, there were huge disagreements about how to handle everything behind the scenes and William and Kate have been infantilized to the point where they’re in their 40s and completely unprepared to take over or do anything but scream about their privacy. I think that’s probably close to what’s been happening. Or some of what’s been happening.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

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I’m a “the more you know” kind of person. I like to be prepared, especially when it comes to how my body works. I still have a few years to go before I start menopause – I just turned 40 – but I’ve already been on the lookout for any symptoms just so I know what to expect or look for. There’s so many things that women experience about their bodies in general that don’t really get talked about en masse. Some things may still be considered taboo while others may just be considered TMI. Honestly, I always appreciate when other women are willing to share some of the less common, or rather, less talked about symptoms.

Halle Berry did an event in Los Angeles with first lady Dr. Jill Biden earlier this week called A Day of Unreasonable Conversation. It engaged figures involved in politics, entertainment, and content creators in “critical discourse” on important issues. Halle and Dr. Biden were there to talk about women’s health and urge people to write more about it. Well, Halle, who is 57, certainly understood the assignment because she got right up there on stage with our first lady and started talking about a painful experience she had one morning after having “great sex” with her boyfriend Van Hunt. Her gyno thought she had herpes, but *surprise!* it ended up being one of those wild and wacky perimenopausal symptoms. Ahhh.

“First of all, my ego told me that I was gonna skip [menopause],” Berry said. “I’m in great shape. I’m healthy. … So that makes one think, Oh, I can handle menopause. I’m going to eat right, exercise, and I’m gonna skip that whole thing. You don’t skip it. But I was so [uneducated] at that time. I wish I knew then when I know now.”

As it turns out, an intimate moment with boyfriend Van Hunt led her to discover she was in perimenopause.

“So, I finally meet the man of my dreams, and I don’t know, some of you might know about my troubles with relationships,” Berry said as she poked fun at her three “failed” marriages. “At 54, I find my guy. Perimenopause is not even a thought on my mind ’cause I’m skipping it. Remember? So we’re having our thing, we’re having sex and everything is great. And I’m like, ‘Ah, the skies have opened up’ So one day, we’re having sex like normal.”

“I didn’t know she was gonna tell this,” Biden interjected, causing the audience to erupt in laughter. “We’re not talking about my [experience]!”

“So anyway, I have this great sex,” Berry continued. “I wake up in the morning, I go to the bathroom, and guess what? I feel like I have razor blades in my vagina.”

Biden interjected, “My daughter’s here in the audience.”

“It might happen to you if you’re not careful, but razor blades … it was terrible,” Berry said. The actress said she immediately went to her gynecologist, who further confused her as to what was going on. “He says, ‘Halle, you have a new guy right?’ I said ‘I do, I’m really excited.’ He said, ‘You messed up again … you have the worst case of herpes I have ever seen.”

Berry’s ob-gyn ran more tests but was convinced she had herpes. Berry said she went from the office to have a talk with Hunt — who was shocked as he said he does not have herpes. They both got tested.

“Neither one of us has herpes,” Berry said. “I realized, after the fact, that [the sensation] is a symptom of perimenopause.”

“I’m not making any comment,” Biden replied. Berry said she wished people warned her “there are things you can do to arrive at this time of life in a more elegant way.”

“My doctor had no knowledge and didn’t prepare me, that’s when I knew, ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve gotta use my platform. I have to use all of who I am and I have to start making a change and a difference,” she explained.

Biden agreed and added how it’s important “we hit it from the side of preventative” medicine. The first lady’s appearance came one week after President Joe Biden signed an executive order to expand research on women’s health care.

“We don’t have answers,” Biden declared, explaining she was given conflicting information as to whether hormone therapy is recommended for menopausal women.

“With all the money that you and President Biden are putting into play, we are going to have more information. We’re going to be able to live better, healthier, longer lives. Right now, women live longer than men. They do live in poor health,” Berry said at one point. “If you’re living in poor health, why live longer? What’s the point?”

[From Yahoo News]

Halle Berry is a badass for so many reasons, but mad props to her for getting up on stage with Dr. Biden and talking about this. I don’t think the First Lady had “talking to Halle Berry about menopause symptoms after sex” on her bingo card, but dang, Halle sure picked her platform well! She knew this was the perfect way to bring attention to the subject. And I do appreciate her sharing that this is a thing. Former supermodel Beverly Johnson also did a really informative interview a few years ago, talking about the ways her body changed when she started menopause.

When we hear women talking about menopause, we hear about hot flashes, insomnia, weight gain, and out-of-control emotions. And trust me, I am grateful to those women for speaking out about those symptoms because it will help prepare me for what lies ahead. I knew that hormonal changes can affect your sex drive, but I did not know that you could experience a burning sensation so bad that it could be mistaken for herpes. I was talking to a friend who is a few years older than I am and already in perimenopause and she told me that what Halle described has actually happened to her, too. Ahhh, like I said, the more you know, right? Believe me, I want to know.

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