'09
Halle Berry has been a longterm supporter of the domestic abuse charity The Janesse Center, which runs six shelters to helps women and families affected by violence at home. Berry is helping raise awareness for the cash-strapped charity by sharing the very harrowing story of how she witnessed domestic abuse as a child. She said her dad would regularly beat her mom and that “I’ve experienced what these women have gone through.”
The 43-year-old actress has been a low-key volunteer on the night shift at the Jenesse centre in Los Angeles for years but has only now chosen to reveal this part of her life, discussing for the first time how her father beat her mother and how she escaped her own abusive relationships.
She hopes the publicity will help the six shelters run by Jenesse overcome the financial stresses of the economic downturn. In the past Berry has refused to talk about the beatings meted out to her mother by her father, Jerome Jesse Berry, who left her family in Cleveland, Ohio, when she was four. But she has said a boyfriend once hit her so hard she is still largely deaf in her left ear.
Last week, accepting a “leadership” award in Hollywood, Berry said she and her elder sister, Heidi, were still recovering from witnessing the violence inflicted on their mother, Judith, a retired nurse who was born in Liverpool.
“I saw my mother battered, and could not do anything to stop it,” she said. “My father was tyrannical, lashing out at her for no reason. I felt the effects that had on our family — I’ve experienced what these women have gone through.”
She said her mother was still working out why she took it for so many years. “That is a deep question, and I am not sure she will ever come up with one answer. I have one answer to anyone in a similar situation — get out.”
Berry never forgave her father, a hospital porter, even as he lay dying with Parkinson’s disease in 2003. He sold his account of their estrangement to a tabloid “for a pack of beer and cigarettes”, Berry said.
She wondered if her parents’ relationship had affected her past romances.
She said: “I never had to run to a shelter, but I did choose the wrong partners. Not always good men. Luckily, in recent years, I have been smart enough to hit the door when violence even becomes a possibility. That is something I will not tolerate.”
After two marriages she feels more settled with her boyfriend, the Versace model Gabriel Aubry, and their 20-month-old baby girl, Nahla.
A former resident of the shelter said she did not realise the woman she called Halle Baby, who told silly jokes to her children, was a film star.
[From Times Online]
I didn’t realize that Berry actually volunteered at the Jenesse center and thought she just donated money. That’s really amazing that she works with the people there just like any other volunteer. She also works with the Make a Wish foundation as she detailed in an essay she wrote for Reader’s Digest in 2002. Berry’s personal stories in that Reader’s Digest article are very moving, and you can tell that she’s committed to helping others and that she truly cares. She wrote that she was heartbroken having to meet children who were so sick, but that she realized she had to deal with it in order to help. “Most of these children are terminally ill, so when you’re granting their wish, you know you may be seeing them for the last time. There was a point when I thought, I cannot do this. Then I realized that before a child passed away, I was able to put a smile on his face. So I told myself it would be really selfish to let a little pain stop me from doing a lot of good.”
Berry’s story of witnessing abuse as a child gives me chills. Now that her dad has passed she probably finally feels able to talk about it. She did mention it in her Reader’s Digest story but didn’t go into much detail, writing “My father was an alcoholic who was very abusive to both my mother and my sister. He was never abusive to me.”
You often see Berry and her mom out together and you can tell that they’re close. One thing Berry said in Reader’s Digest was that she wanted to have children but didn’t know if she would be able to. “I desperately want children of my own, and hope I haven’t missed the chance.” Now she has a beautiful daughter, Nahla, 21 months, and a gorgeous partner in model Gabriel Aubry. I bet Halle’s mom is such a proud grandmother.
Halle Berry is shown at ‘Hollywood Reporter’s Annual Women in Entertainment Breakfast’ held at the Beverly Hills Hotel in LA on 12/4/09. Also shown are Hilary Swank and Eva Longoria. Credit: WENN.com
Written by Celebitchy
Posted in Good Causes, Halle Berry
- TV Shows that outstayed their welcome [Pajiba]
- Goopy and Cameron Diaz went to a Coldplay concert [Lainey Gossip]
- The bacon milkshake! [D-Listed]
- Ashanti looks... good? [Go Fug Yourself]
- 20 great songs under 2 minutes [Fark]
- Snooki and J-Woww on notice [IDLYITW]
- Jennifer Aniston through the years [Popsugar]
- Kirsten Dunst looks so pretty here [Evil Beet]
- Mila Kunis without makeup [Celebslam]
- The awful cover letter all of Wall St. is mocking [Gawker]
20 Responses to “Halle Berry on witnessing her dad beat up her mom”
Leave a Reply
By commenting you agree to our comment policy
Use the "Report this comment as spam or abuse" link to ask the moderators to delete a comment if it's offensive. If your comment disappears, it may have been eaten by the spam filter. Please e-mail cbcomments at gmail.com to get it retrieved.
Get an icon next to your name by signing up for a free Gravatar
The boyfriend that damaged her ear is Wesley Snipes, by the way.
Report this comment as spam or abuse
This is so touching. I love and respect Halle so much for telling her story and donating her time to such worthy causes.
I wonder why her father never physically harmed her and instead focused on harming her mom and sister. I’ve heard of this happening before in abusive situations and always just wondered what the “reasoning” behind it might be..
Report this comment as spam or abuse
Is she estranged from her sister? I’ve NEVER heard/seen her with Mrs Berry who hardly ever even mention her.
Report this comment as spam or abuse
this headline immediately caught my eye as i can remember seeing my dad hit my mom. just a possibility on halle’s comment that he didn’t abuse her – im pretty sure she only means he didnt hit her – he most definitely abused her emotionally – my dad has never hit my sister or I, but he is more willing to be verbally abusive to me than to her – my sister has always maintained a greater distance from him – some say that an abuser views “closeness” as an opportunity to abuse, so if you’re not “close” enough to them, you don’t get as much abuse. twisted, very twisted. mom is now married to a good man and i have since pretty much completely cut my father out of my life, to much relief! mad props to halle.
Report this comment as spam or abuse
Good on Halle Berry for doing so much for domestic abuse victims and rising awareness for such a serious issue, I really admire her for that.
Report this comment as spam or abuse
I am stunned and amazed that she has been volunteering for a night shift at a hospital. I totally have a new respect for her, and to keep it so under wraps too. Good for her.
Report this comment as spam or abuse
Wesley Snipes? I always wondered who it was…I thought it was a director or a producer tho…
Report this comment as spam or abuse
Wesley Snipes? I too did not know he was a girlfriend/wife beater. Why was these not made more public by the media at that time? If these is true than he (or who ever did it to her) is pretty f*cking sick to hit her so hard that it left her deaf in one ear. Jesus, you never know what is happening behind close doors and who is doing what.
Report this comment as spam or abuse
Wesley and Halle started dating when they did jungle fever i believe. It’s always been rumored that he is the one that caused her to go slightly deaf in her ear, but she has ever come out said it (as far as i know)
Report this comment as spam or abuse
This is an old story in the African American community dating back 20 years when Halle first was in Spike Lee movies. Halle was also a victim of domestic violence and as a result she has lost 90% of her hearing in her left ear and it was a famous Hollywood actor that inflicted it on her which she chooses not to reveal. Being from the industry and that time period most people know who it was.
Report this comment as spam or abuse
Yeah, but who hasent?
Report this comment as spam or abuse
Hail Halle … what an inspiration!
Report this comment as spam or abuse
NOW this is A LADY someone we should talk about and praise and want to know more about not that FUG one who posed half nekid for in GQ this one has Substance and Depth and She is TRYULY TALENTEND I never knew she physically volunteered wow she has gone up another notch in my books Good for you Halle Amazing!
Report this comment as spam or abuse
Hey @amachaz I think @alibee is trying to be funny all of this blog stuff and subsequent comments it’s really all in jest. and I am an english proffessor and i make errors when typing it’s being human ..
and I agree Halle is a lady and should be praised and talked about rather than some less desireable ones.
Report this comment as spam or abuse
c’mon
rhianna is ridiculous as far as the attention being given her.
more power to her;she can aspire to whatever she wants.
but what are we constantly hearing/seeing her for? a song or two on the radio?
and no,i don’t feel the need to capitalize or use real punctuation.
certainly doesn’t mean i’m spewing hate vomit.
lol.
that is a bit over the top for the post you were referring to….cracks me up.
cheers!
Report this comment as spam or abuse
I thought it was Dave Justice (Cleveland Indians) that busted her hearing.
That seems to be more likely…
Report this comment as spam or abuse
I just saw a story on jezebel about HBO’s latest show Every F–ing Day of My Life. It gave a summary about the documentary where this woman Wendy was married at 17, had four children with her husband/abuser. They have video clips of neighbors describing the abuse and in her home there are drawing by her children all over covering holes in the walls. I can’t say which part of it is more horrifying but when Wendy takes out her fake teeth, she only has a couple front teeth left that are also cracked from her husband beating her.
She describes how she and her kids called for help from the police but the system failed her. Her husband threatened to kill her family members if she ever tried to escape and would go through her sister’s family, mother until she returned. In the end, Wendy and her son killed her husband while he was asleep. I haven’t watched the documentary yet but they state how she seems almost carefree as she’s baking cookies for the rest of her kids before she serves 10 years in prison. I can’t imagine the hell she went through that prison would seem like a welcome change.
I have a lot more respect for Halle Berry after hearing the goodwill she’s been quietly spreading for years.
Report this comment as spam or abuse
Halle has always asserted that it was an ex boyfriend who busted her eardrum not an ex husband. The two guesses were always Wesley Snipes and Christopher Williams but the general consensus has always been Snipes. Good for Halle for showing that you can rebound after abuse and one can only hope that in the future Rihanna will be able to process what has happened to her. It’s only sad that she has become the target when she was in fact the victim.
Report this comment as spam or abuse
Trolls (le sigh).
Report this comment as spam or abuse
OT: it must be especially hard for a celeb to do ‘hands on’ charity worl (due to the recognition factor) so good for Halle, good for women and fams. Kudos.
Report this comment as spam or abuse