Halle Berry says she gets ‘frustrated’ when it’s assumed she’s been ‘spared hardship’ because of appearance

Halle Berry has spoken candidly about preconceived notions about her appearance, with the actor explaining that it is often assumed she’s been “spared any hardship”.

The 55-year-old, who is promoting the upcoming film Bruised, which she directed, reflected on her experiences, and the realities of life despite her physical beauty, during an interview with The New York Times.

“This is another battle I fought my whole life. That because I look a certain way that I’ve been spared any hardship. I’ve had loss and pain and a lot of hurt in my life. I’ve had abuse in my life,” Berry said. “I get really frustrated when people think because I look a certain way that I haven’t had any of those real-life experiences because I absolutely have.”

“This hasn’t spared me one heartbreak or heartache or fearful or tearful moment, trust me,” she added.

Berry, who has worked with organisations dedicated to preventing and intervening in domestic violence for more than 15 years, has previously spoken about being abused, with the actor telling People in 1996 that she was attacked by a former boyfriend.

In 2015, while speaking at an event for the Jenesse Center, a national domestic violence prevention and intervention organisation, Berry also acknowledged that she has an “an understanding, a knowing” that connects her to the nonprofit.

Elsewhere in the interview with The New York Times, the Catwoman actor, who is directing for the first time, said that the opportunity has made her feel “powerful”.

“I feel powerful just because I get to do it and put my voice in the world in some way, and my sensibilities as a Black woman out there,” she said of the film, in which she also stars as a disgraced mixed martial arts fighter who reconnects with her son.

Berry also noted that directing allows her to tell the story from her point of view, with the actor explaining that the world portrayed in the film is one she knows.

“We haven’t seen an African American woman in this way in a movie,” she said. “I’m from Cleveland, Ohio. I am salt of the earth, it’s a world I know and is intrinsic to who I am. If I’m going to get to tell a story, I’m going to make it from a point of view that I know. I thought that was a very good way for me to start.”