Halle Berry Speaks Candidly About Being "MarginalizedDevalued" at 59 Years Old and Her Fight to Not “be Erased”

At 59Halle Berry is in what she called her “second act”—and is speaking out about how she won’t “be erased” in Hollywood as she approaches 60 years old and beyond.

In an interview with The Cut published on February 2the actress said“You get to this age where you feel like you’re being marginalizeddevalued. You feel it at work. You feel it from society.”

“But I have adamantly decided I am not going to allow myself to be erased,” Berry continued. “That’s why I’m on my menopause mission. I’m going to be louder than I have ever been.”

Berry—along with other celebrities like Naomi Watts and Oprah Winfrey—have been part of why menopause isn’t hidden in the shadows as it perhaps once was. “I’m almost 60,” Berry told The Cut of the age she will turn in August. “Fighting for women’s health feels like a formidable cause for my second act.” As part of her second actBerry launched Respinwhich People described as “an empowering community redefining menopause and female longevity.”

“I’ve had a 30-year career being an actorbut what empowers me and what feels really good is I can take my second act,” Berry said. “It’s been the joy of my life in so many waysbut taking the second act and really focusing it on women’s healthI can’t think of a better way to spend my next chapter of my life.”

According to a source speaking to PeopleBerry is happy not just in her advocacy but also in her relationship with boyfriend Van Huntwhom a source said Berry is “grateful” foradding that she is “very happy with life right now.”

“Being in a relationship with Van Hunt has been wonderful for Halle,” the insider added. “He really gets her and treats her so well.” The source added“They have talked about marriagebut it really seems Halle is happy as it is. She just wants things to stay the way they are.”

Berry told U.K.’s The Times Magazine thatbefore meeting Hunt“I was solo and celibate for four years,” she said. “I had to really sit myself down and be alone and grow and reflect and realize my value. I had decided if the right person doesn’t comeI will be alone. And that’s okay. I’m enough by myself. I’ve got my children. I have my career. That’s more than enough. I have an embarrassment of riches.”

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“I would not have been ready for him before,” she said of meeting Hunt in 2020. “I had to go through fire and burn to get to the point of appreciating a person like him. I was a moth to a flame. I no longer am that person.”

Berry told Today that she and Hunt “don’t feel like we have to get married to validate our love in any way. We don’t.”

Butshe added“I think we will get married just because out of the people I’ve been married tothis is the person I should have married. And I feel like I shouldwe shouldget married. But it’s not because we feel like we have to. I think it’s something that we would like to do just because we want that expression.”