Halle Berry’s travel item

Halle Berry is on the Cannes jury this year and she arrived a few days ago. Here she is at the Hotel Martinez yesterday, one of the festival hotspots and where jury members often stay because of its location on the Croisette and its proximity to the Palais where they have to be every single night and, often, during the day. She also joined the other members of the jury, led by Juliette Binoche today for the press conference. And, of course, tonight she’ll be at the opening ceremony. 

Halle made headlines, though, even before the festival started, on Mother’s Day when she posted a video of herself in bed with her boyfriend Van Hunt obviously letting people know what she’d been doing after getting to France and what she will continue to be doing the whole time she’s in France when she’s not screening films and deliberating. 

The internet had some big feelings about the fact that she was so candid about her sex life and specific about her sex accoutrements, giggling about having brought lube aka intimacy gel on the trip. I also have big feelings about it – very good big feelings. 

First of all, Let’s Spin is her own brand of gel so she’s getting busy while doing business. Second, Halle is 58 years old, still a smokeshow, and still, clearly, getting her vitamins. Society has written off women at this age as undesirable, but Halle isn’t here for it. I know, I know, Halle Berry has the resources and the time to work on looking the way she does (and just great genes, period) but that doesn’t change her birthday. And it doesn’t change the fact that we don’t often see women her age openly sharing that they are having and enjoying sex – even though sexual health is a part of good overall health. 

But health concerns do change as we age. So this is more than just business and more than just “oh look at me I’m getting dicked down”, it’s also awareness. Halle has spoken publicly about menopause and the lack of information around it, and she’s been out here trying to normalise the experience, which also includes normalising vaginal dryness, a common symptom for women going through perimenopause. This is the reason for the lube, because as Halle has shared, most recently with Drew Barrymore: 

“I did have about six months or seven months [where] we struggled with finding a way to have sex again, getting rid of the dryness, making it more enjoyable because it got pretty rough for a minute.” At which points Drew added, “If I may give a description, it feels like sandpaper.” And Halle confirmed, “Razor blades”. 

This has not been my personal experience with perimenopause, but I would imagine, if you’re horny, mentally stimulated, and you want to get down, but the juices aren’t flowing, sure, you might need some help. There’s no shame in it. And there should be no obstacles, not when there are so many products on the market that can facilitate a smoother ride. Halle Berry is telling millions of people she’s horny, she’s stimulated, she’s ready to get down, and she’s found herself a smooth ride. 

So why are (some) people on the internet cringing? It’s a f-cking public service announcement. And it doesn’t have to be delivered by a weird monotone AI voice in a TV commercial so sanitised you’d think they were selling contact solution. Intimacy gel is used for INTIMACY. Promoting it INTIMATELY is exactly the right tone. And ultimately, she’s the one with all that post f-ck glow on her face so, really, you can cringe but she still wins. 

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