Halle Berry recalls high school overruling her prom queen win because she was Black
Halle Berry has recalled being accused of fixing her prom queen win because her high school didn't want a "Black girl" to win.
Halle Berry was accused of fixing her prom queen ballot because the school didn't want a "Black girl" to win.
The Academy Award winning actress - who is the first and only Black woman to win the best actress prize, for 2001 thriller Monster's Ball - can still recall the racism she was subjected to at high school, when she won the vote but was made to flip a coin with a white student to decide the winner.
She told The Cut: "As a Black girl, I was not the symbol of who they wanted for their queen."
She added: "Another thing nobody really gets about me is that I’ve been a fighter my whole life — fighting to be seen for who I really am, fighting to be taken seriously as an artist, fighting the stigma of beauty.”
Halle also insisted that despite being "wildly proud" of her Oscars win, she was hoping it would have a greater impact on her career.
She said: "That Oscar didn’t necessarily change the course of my career. After I won it, I thought there was going to be, like, a script truck showing up outside my front door.
"While I was wildly proud of it, I was still Black that next morning. Directors were still saying, ‘If we put a Black woman in this role, what does this mean for the whole story? Do I have to cast a Black man? Then it’s a Black movie. Black movies don’t sell overseas.'
The 59-year-old star - who has appeared in 45 feature films to date - once warned Oscar nominee Cynthia Erivo that the recognition wouldn't "change her life".
She said to her: “You goddamn deserve it, but I don’t know that it’s going to change your life. It cannot be the validation for what you do, right?”
Now, Halle insisted her success comes from the simple fact she is getting to do what she enjoys.
She explained: "As a Black woman, now almost 60, I still get to work in movies and do what I love. I’m winning.”
