Halle Berry admits she and Angelina Jolie had a ‘rocky start’ to film project

Halle Berry has revealed that she and Angelina Jolie had a “rocky start” to their relationship while filming their upcoming movie, Maude v Maude. However, she explained that the two ultimately “bonded” over something they had in common.

In an interview with Variety published on 6 December, the Catwoman star recalled on-set clashes with the Maleficent actor as they made the Berry-directed action-thriller, which was described by Variety as Mr and Mrs Smith meets Mission: Impossible with a comedic twist.

“We had a rocky start,” Berry told Variety, “and I think that is going to serve us well in our screen time together.” Meanwhile, despite their initial clash, Berry maintained that she’s “thrilled to work with another woman and craft a story with our sensibility and from our point of view.”

“She is formidable,” the X-Men star said about Jolie. When asked exactly why the pair didn’t see eye to eye, Berry remained tight-lipped, but teased that fans must wait to hear the story because it’s a “good one”.

Nevertheless, she and Jolie eventually found common ground over their similar personal lives. “We’ve been talking a lot about divorces and exes,” Berry revealed. “We bonded, let’s say that.”

Both Berry, 57, and Jolie, 48, have been married three times. The Monster’s Ball actor was first wed to professional baseball player David Justice from 1993 to 1997. She was then married to singer Eric Benét from 2001 to 2005, before marrying actor Olivier Martinez from 2013 to 2016.

In 2013, Berry and Martinez welcomed son Maceo-Robert. She also shares 15-year-old daughter Nahla with ex Gabriel Aubry, though they were never married. Berry has been dating singer Van Hunt since 2020.

Meanwhile, the Girl, Interrupted actor was married for the first time to actor Jonny Lee Miller from 1996 to 2000 and later to actor Billy Bob Thornton until 2003. She met actor Brad Pitt while co-starring in the 2005 film Mr and Mrs Smith. They were married in 2014 after 10 years together, before announcing their divorce in 2016. Since then, the former couple have been embroiled in a legal battle over their various properties and custody agreements over their six children.

In a recent interview with WSJ Magazine, Jolie hinted at her ongoing divorce proceedings with Pitt and how it influenced her decision to leave Los Angeles. “It’s part of what happened after my divorce. I lost the ability to live and travel as freely,” she explained in the interview, published on 5 December. “I will move when I can. I grew up in quite a shallow place. Of all the places in the world, Hollywood is not a healthy place. So you seek authenticity.”

The Academy Award winner also shared that she developed Bell’s palsy — a condition in which one side of the face is temporarily paralysed — due to the stress of her impending divorce. “My body reacts very strongly to stress,” she said. “My blood sugar goes up and down. I suddenly had Bell’s palsy six months before my divorce.”

When it comes to her six children, however, Jolie described her bond with them. “They are the closest people to me and my life, and they’re my close friends,” she said. “We’re seven very different people, which is our strength.”

Jolie and Pitt are parents to 22-year-old Maddox, 19-year-old Pax and 18-year-old Zahara. They also share daughter Shiloh, 17, and 15-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne.