Woe are the beautiful women of Hollywood. No one understands how they suffer. When a beautiful woman comes into a casting call, every door shuts in her face. I know that because so many beautiful actresses complain about how difficult it is for them to be beautiful. Jessica Biel has complained, as has Charlize Theron. And now it’s Halle Berry’s turn! To be fair, the context of Halle’s comments does make this a little less egregious. Halle was profiled as one of the many October covers for W Magazine, and she starts out talking about her early years in the beauty pageant system (where she was eventually NOT crowned Miss USA). Then it goes from there. You can read the full piece here. Some highlights:
How she got into the beauty pageant life: “Actually, my boyfriend at the time wanted a beauty pageant girlfriend. So he entered me and I got this letter in the mail saying, “You are a finalist in the Miss Team Ohio,” and I thought “Uh, what is this?” And then he told me, “Oh, by the way, I sent your prom picture in and now you have to go.” So I took my prom dress–It was quite taffeta, hoop skirt, off the shoulders, almost like I was getting married–and I went to this contest, thought it was fun, and I ended up winning. And once you start winning these things it’s like a snowball. And you have to go to the next one and if you when there you go to the next one, and I kept winning all the way until the Miss USA pageant where I did not win. I was first runner up to Christy Fichtner. And that ended my beauty pageant career.
Beauty pageant talent: “I had no talent. We didn’t have to have the talent. [In] Miss America you need a talent. Miss USA you’re talentless. You just show up. Thank god I didn’t have to sing.”
She never wanted to play ‘the gorgeous girl’: “Yeah. It was intentional to not play the gorgeous girl. I came from the world of beauty pageants and modeling and right away when people heard that I got discounted as an actor. So, I had the job of trying to eliminate that part of my persona, and Spike [Lee] gave me a chance to do that. And I took on roles early on that really didn’t rely on my physical self at all and that was a good way to sort of get some credibility within my industry.”
Beauty adversity: “With Monsters Ball, Lee Daniels didn’t want to see me read. He was actually disgusted by the thought. He thought there’s no way and my argument to him was, just because someone looks a certain way doesn’t mean that they are spared adversity. Adversity does not discriminate. I thought, “My looks haven’t spared me one hardship or one hurt moment or one painful situation. So please, you know, give me a shot at this.” I said, “I often think it’s more interesting when you see someone that looks a certain way struggle in ways that you wouldn’t think they would be struggling with.” He ultimately gave me a chance and that sort of changed the course of my career in so many ways.
[From W Magazine]
“Adversity does not discriminate.” I get what she’s saying. Someone beautiful can still have a terrible marriage and a sh-tty job. Someone beautiful can still be mistreated, assaulted or worse. We all have struggles, even beautiful people. But! So many of these beautiful women – Halle, Charlize, Jessica Biel – rarely understand that their lives have always been blessed in a different way because of their bubble of beauty privilege. Sure, Halle had to argue, beg and plead for a chance to audition for a role. But what about all of the (less attractive) women who never got in the door because they didn’t have the “name” of an actress who get a film greenlighted? And why couldn’t those women make a name for themselves? Because they didn’t get the roles before that, because they were not pretty enough, or compelling enough on screen, or watchable, or “hot.”
Photos courtesy of W Magazine.
But what is this, the adversity olympics? We all have our difficulties. Acknowledging our own difficulties doesn’t necessarily mean we’re failing to acknowledge anyone else’s.
Yes, what Berry says is true–bad fortune can visit itself on anyone at any time. However, there is NO denying that beautiful people get far more breaks for the most part than the rest of us shlubs.
Exactly, NeoCleo.
To paraphrase Sophie Tucker, “I’ve been beautiful and I’ve been ugly but lemme tell ya, honey, beautiful is bettah.”
Really? I’ve been fit and now i’m not. I find that its been easier to convince people that im capable of things other that being a sexual object now.
Yeah I was a seriously ugly duckling my whole entire childhood and until early adulthood really. I had no self esteem. I had horrible boyfriends who mistreated me and had a childhood of bullying, exclusion, and abuse due to my total lack of self esteem. When I suddenly lost a bunch of weight and got a haircut at 25, I couldn’t stop the male attention and then, it was like the only validation I got or self worth I had was when people told me how attractive I was and told me often. The trade off was that people inherently thought I was capable of less and men tended to either treat me like a hookup or a wife. No in between. No male friends. Few female friends because I never had them growing up and when I became pretty, there weren’t many who wanted to go out for drinks with me or many who were still single. Plus, you’re past the age of making a whole lot of friends… My point is, pretty people can have horrible lives. Doesn’t nullify their pain. Now if you’ve always been pretty like Halle Berry… I dunno what that’s like. But don’t not talk to pretty shy girls with resting bitch face. We can actually be cool sometimes! And we need friends.
True, but things like family structure, parenting quality, exposure to trauma can be very impactful on ones psyche and those do not discriminate.
Meh, her beauty pageant story about how her boyfriend entered her without her knowledge reminds me of the people who claim to “accidentally” have ended up on a reality show. According to many reality show peeps, there are many, many hoops to jump through to get on a reality show, including but definitely not limited to audition videos, tryouts, screen tests, and psych evaluations. The same is true for pageants. There are applications, head shots, fees, preliminaries, etc. Maybe the pageant circuit was different in her day, but I just don’t believe her story.
Can confirm re: reality shows. I impulsively applied to a casting call once, several years ago, and had forgotten about it by the time they contacted me for an interview. But the process was INTENSE. I only got through the first few rounds (next step would have been a free flight to LA, which was my main motivation to be honest). But they needed photos from birth to present, multiple Skype interviews, measurements, emails from family members, a physical, etc. And that was just a basic cable show that never got many viewers or had another season.
Her pageant story seemed surprisingly simple to me, too. Surely you don’t just mail in a photo and show up on stage a few times and suddenly you’re in the Miss USA pageant…
“In] Miss America you need a talent. Miss USA you’re talentless.”
These lines made me laugh.
Her answers here don’t sound annoying like Charlize Theron’s or Jessica Biel’s. She’s giving specific example. She doesn’t talk about actually being shut out like those two, but how she didn’t rely on only her physical self to get parts, which is what an actor is supposed to do. Other good-looking people seem a little shocked when they have to take that extra step of putting in the effort that everybody else does. And she talks about people did give her a chance.
I also think it sounds better that she contextualized her beauty in terms of beauty pageants where other people tell you that you’re beautiful or where a certain image of you as beautiful forms rather than outright stating her opinion of herself that she’s beautiful (which she is, but it sounds so conceited without any context. Charlize Theron sounded conceited anyway to me).
I guess I get what you’re saying here, but Halle had an awful upbringing with an abusive father, which led her to end up in relationships with abusive men. She’s still deaf in one ear as a result. She’s had diabetes and struggled with infertility. She was a biracial girl in Ohio raised by a white mother and had to learn to navigate race from that vantage point. She’s had a lot of struggles, and in the entertainment industry where beautiful women are a dime a dozen, I don’t think her good looks were a huge advantage. In her early roles in “Jungle Fever” and “Boomerang,” she was not known as a sex pot at all, so there’s truth in what she’s saying here. The sexy image came a bit later in her career.
Yeah, I think the issue of race would have made her career trajectory less easy than Charlize Theron’s. She’s most likely had an easier time than Viola Davis, but I think she would have faced more difficulties in getting parts than Theron.
Her line about adversity was said in terms of trying to get a part, which makes it easier to digest. If she had actually said it as words of wisdom to take from an interview, I could see how that would annoy people but since she said it to the director I think that changes my perception of the quote.
Yeah, she certainly has her faults but I can’t hate on her.
You are lucky because I don’t even understand the criticism in the article. Even if Hollywoods race and gender politics didn’t immediately distinguish this from say Rob Lowes gripes, Lee Daniels was just wrong. He didnt want her for monsters ball because he assumed that she didn’t have the life experience to give such a character depth. He assumed that a pretty girl wouldnt have lived through adversity because she is pretty. It’s completely in order for her to educate him.
I get what she’s saying too, and because I have at least one privilege she never will, I’ll tread lightly here.
But, honey. Yes, your looks HAVE spared you hardships and hurt moments and painful situations. You just weren’t aware of the alternatives.
If my choice is adversity while beautiful or adversity while plain, I’ll take beauty thank you very much. Beauty gets you a lot of perks in life (or so I’ve heard).
and white people get cancer too. does not mean life isnt easy mode for white people.
also “more attractive people consistently earned 12 to 14 percent more than unattractive people — regardless of gender ” Equality!
This sounds incredibly arrogant, but I’m one of those who many people consider “beautiful.” I’m 5’11”, great body, great features, etc.
But…is that how I see myself? No. I’ve battled a horrific eating disorder for 20 years (which may possibly be a life-long struggle), I’m going through a divorce, and I never look in the mirror and see what other people tell me. I always see someone who could be so much better…
Am I alone? Of course not! 3/4 of the women on my college dorm room floor had the exact same issues! And I always thought that THEY were beautiful, but never myself.
Yes, I know my post is slightly off-topic, but yes…beauty (whatever that means) doesn’t mean you have a picture perfect life or career.
Who wrote that article for W? The spelling is atrocious?
In an industry that banks on physical desirability, the concept of beauty privilege probably applies more. It’s holliwood after all. It still does not discount the fact that hot women, especially the extremely sexually attractive ones are consistently labelled as intellectually less. I don’t know if that thing still happens in the US, but it still happens where i live. I mean, I consistently experienced being thought of as intellectually less because of how i look. I’m not even beautiful. I look ok but not beautiful. It was probably my boobs (i come from a small boobies place).
As a university student, being shamed and thought of as less because you look a certain way kind of messed my mind. I almost believed the labels people threw at me.
I’m not saying that beauty does not open doors because it does, but being rejected because you are not attractive enough us just as hurtful as being rejected because some people think that a woman can’t be attractive and capable at the same time.
I get what Charlize, Jessica, Halle are saying. The hot ones also don’t always get the meatier roles because they’re not relatable looking. Meaty roles for women in Hollywood are hard to get in general. Casting agents just want them to be the hot gf. People especially woman always go on the attack when someone who’s pretty says their pretty like people are supposed to be down on themselves. But then when a celeb criticisizes a body part people rolls their eyes and claim they’re attempting false modesty. There’s nothing wrong with thinking you’re pretty you don’t have to put yourself down to get others to like you.
In Hollywood pretty people have a hard time getting meatier roles. People who are not pretty have a hard time getting roles.
*groan*
Beauty is a double edged sword anyway. Halle has aged amazingly well because she is is biracial but my MIL told me her mother who was famed in her area for her beauty was devastated by her fading looks.
It is matter of degree though. I was “hot/sexy” when I was younger and I am okay with not turning heads anymore but I wasn’t model gorgeous that it was the main part of my identity if that makes sense. Men are no longer as helpful and women are much friendlier to me now as well. Hehehe.
Jessica Biel needs to calm down with the beauty thing, she doesn’t get roles because she is a mediocre actress, not because she is too beautiful.
I think beautiful actresses probably fare better than average looking ones, but I can see how being seen as beautiful could potentially limit roles.
I do think that race could have played a part in whether Halle Berry got certain roles, which is really unfair.
The biggest misconception about Jessica’s article is that the words “I’m too pretty” never actually came out of her mouth. Click bait titles for celeb blogs did that
There is a Russian proverb which covers this situation as well. (I am full of folk knowledge today.)
It says “Don’t be born beautiful but be born happy”.
Beautiful people have their own struggles. They are noticed more, people try to take advantage of them. And in some areas they get an easy pass so they don’t develop certain skills. They also face a different kind of prejudice.
Agree. This is not a Jessica Biel, Charlize Theron humble brag kind of situation.
Not a Berry fan but I absolutely get what she’s saying here. Kudos to her for persevering and pushing back against Lee Daniels misconceptions about what a beautiful person can or can’t do.
And I maintain that she deserved to win for Monster’s Ball. Her performance was raw and vulnerable and moving. Esp., the scene where she’s grieving for her child.
Beautiful women will always have more doors open to them in general, but once they’re in, they have to bring more to the table in order to be respected.
Halle was smart enough to learn when to use her looks and when not to. I think her best work occurred when she looked far from a pageant girl.
I like her with this long hair. Didn’t like the short style she chose. Honestly a bob would probably be best!