Gavin Newsom is trying to turn a very public Hollywood scolding into what he insists is a policy fix.
After Halle Berry said California governor “probably should not be our next president,” Newsom has responded with a mix of praise, budget promises, and a gentle suggestion that the Oscar winner did not have the full picture.
Berry took the shot on Wednesday at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit in New York, where she has become one of the most visible celebrity voices on menopause and midlife women’s health.
“Back 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,” she told the audience, before adding that “he’s not going to be governor forever.”
She then turned directly to his national ambitions. With the way she says he has overlooked women in midlife, “he probably should not be our next president either,” Berry said, drawing gasps from the room where Newsom himself was due to appear later in the program.
The flash point is Assembly Bill 432, the Menopause Care Equity Act, which would expand insurance coverage for menopause and perimenopause treatment and encourage more physician training on menopause care. Newsom vetoed the bill in 2024 and again in October 2025, even as Berry and other advocates championed it as a modest step toward treating menopause as basic health care, not a niche concern.
Berry has framed those vetoes as a slap at women in midlife, arguing that “women of my age are simply devalued in this country” and urging them to “refuse to be diminished during one of the most important seasons of your life.”
Newsom’s team is trying to show that he is on her side on substance, if not on the details of the bill she backed.
In a statement, a spokesperson said the governor has “deep admiration for Ms. Berry’s advocacy” and “shares her goal of expanding access to menopause care that too many women struggle to get.”
The spokesperson argued that he vetoed AB 432 because, as written, it “would have unintentionally raised health care costs for millions of working women and working families already stretched thin,” something he is “determined to avoid.”
Newsom has now gone further, saying the policy fight is already shifting. Speaking to reporters at Newark Airport, he said, “We’re reconciling this,” explaining that he has “included it in the budget next year, and she didn’t know that.”
“She didn’t know that,” he added in a separate comment. “We already were in the process of fixing it.”
According to Newsom’s office, the plan is to fold funding for expanded menopause care into the 2026–27 state budget rather than push it through as a standalone mandate on insurers, which he says could have backfired on women through higher premiums or out of pocket costs.
The clash lands at an awkward time for the governor as Newsom has acknowledged he is seriously eyeing a 2028 presidential run, telling CBS in October, “Yeah, I’d be lying otherwise,” when asked if he was considering it. Berry saying that he “probably should not be our next president” neatly punctured months of quiet positioning and gave his critics a soundbite.
