California Governor Gavin Newsom has said that he has “deep admiration” for Halle Berry’s advocacy and is “reconciling this” after he received a sharp rebuke from the Oscar-winning actor who warned he “probably should not be president.”
During her address at the New York Times’ DealBook Summit on Wednesday, Berry took aim at the Democratic Governor’s recent decision to veto Assembly Bill 432, which would have extended insurance coverage for menopause-related care and treatment in California.
“In my great state of California, my very own governor, Gavin Newsom, has vetoed our menopause bill not one, but two years, in a row,” the 59-year-old actor and women’s health advocate said, “but that’s OK because he’s not going to be governor forever,” she told the audience.
She then added: “With the way he’s overlooked women—half the population—by devaluing us in mid-life, he probably should not be our next president, either.”
In a comment to Newsweek, a spokesperson for Newsom said the governor shares Berry’s goal to expand access to menopause care “that too many women struggle to get.”
Newsom, the spokesperson said, “vetoed the bill because, as written, it would have unintentionally raised health care costs for millions of working women and working families already stretched thin—something he’s determined to avoid.
“We’re confident that by working together this year, we can expand access to essential menopause treatment while protecting women from higher bills.”
The California legislature is expected to address what the governor’s spokesperson called a “critical issue” in the upcoming budget which is expected to be released on January 10.
On Wednesday night, Newsom told a TMZ reporter that his team had spoken to Halle’s manager and they were”reconciling this”.
The governor also said that Berry did not know a bill to address expanding access to menopause care in the state was already put in the budget for next year.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
