Halle Berry: GLORY, GLORY, HALLE-LUJAH

Q: Have you changed your mind about your $5 million lawsuit against the _Star _for their saying your marriage was on the rocks?

A: No, but it wasn't because they said my marriage was on the rocks. It was because they involved our child. I'm a new mother. My husband has a nine-year-old daughter who is old enough to read these things. I've taken a lot of hits in my career, and who really cares? But when they brought her into it and she started asking, "Why are they saying that I don't like you?" I thought, We're going to stand for something now. We choose to be in this industry, and if you want to take potshots at us, that's one thing, but this little child has nothing to do with who her parents are. If you're going to do careless journalism, fine--but don't do it with the children.

Q: How bad does careless journalism get for you?

A: I had a tough time with photographers when David [Justice] and I divorced. And Eric and I were chased after the car accident happened. Eric's instinct was to run, and we almost killed ourselves a couple of times running. These photographers would be running red lights. A couple of times I stopped and hailed policemen, who said there was nothing they could do.

Q: Let's talk about the car accident. Why did you leave the scene when you collided with a woman in February 2000?

A: I can't remember the accident or the drive home. That's why I pled no contest--to leaving the scene, not to a hit-and-run. Technically, I did leave. How could I say I'm not guilty of that? I just know I didn't knowingly do that. My medical condition forced me to react the way I did. The hardest part has been trying to explain to people who never had it happen to them. They say, "If you don't remember, how could you drive home?" Well, I was a block from my house. I became obsessed with talking to trauma specialists. What they've explained is that when a trauma like that happens, your body goes into autopilot. Driving from that corner to my house is something I've done a thousand times.

Q: Did your fame lead to the implication that you had committed a crime?

A: I think so. People who are drunk drive into people's living rooms and don't get the coverage I got from an accident where there were no drugs or alcohol and nobody was really seriously injured. I had a gash in my head and the other woman had a broken arm.

Q: Whose fault was it?

A: It was undetermined. I was never cited or charged for it because the witnesses said conflicting things. The side of my car and the front of hers were damaged.

Q: Billy Crystal made fun of your car accident at the Oscars when he joked that they were going to do a remake of Driving Miss Daisy as an action movie with you behind the wheel. You didn't appreciate that, but your _Bulworth _costar, Warren Beatty, had another take on it, didn't he?

A: Yeah, he said, "It just means that you're famous. Don't take it any more to heart than that." When he said that a light went on. He was right.

Q: Does fame ever become a burden?

A: Yeah, but I can think of worse burdens to have. You begin to become stifled because so much weight is put on your words. We're no different than anybody else, but somehow when we speak, more emphasis is put on our opinions. When I hear someone say, "I don't know why you took your top off in Swordfish, my daughter used to look up to you," I just think, I'm sorry I let your daughter down, but guess what? I'm living my life.

Q: Was _Swordfish _something you really wanted?

A: No. When I read it, I was scared to death of it. I thought, This is a great part for somebody.

Q: Who talked you into it?

A: Probably my husband. He read it and thought, You could rock this. You've never played this sexy part of yourself. You always want to play tortured women or teachers. You always hide that other part. I hid it because I always tried to shed that beauty-pageant/model image, thinking I'm going to be a serious actress.

Q: I read a poll of what people most liked about that film, and it was seeing your breasts. What does that say about the rest of the picture?

A: [Laughs] That says that my boobs are pretty fucking incredible!

Q: Did you get a $500,000 bonus for keeping to the script when it came to that scene?

A: It wasn't ever an issue whether the top would be on or off. It was always in the script that it would be off. I had a price that I was willing to do that movie for, and I ended up with more than they wanted to pay me.

Q: Would you say appearing topless was the greatest risk you've taken as an actor?

A: You mean when I decided to be nude in a movie for the sake of gratuitous nudity? [Laughs] That felt pretty risky to me because I thought, I'm never going to be able to explain this. And there was no explanation--I did it because I wanted to.

Q: Knowing their value to a picture, if you're asked to show them again, would you ask for more money?

A: No. I had an explicit love scene with Billy Bob, and I got $100,000 for Monster's Ball. So it's not about paying for nudity. To do a movie like Swordfish, I had a price. To do Monster's Ball, which had a character that I could stick my foot in and shit all over and get a great deal of creative satisfaction out of, it wasn't about the money. By the time I paid all the people I have to pay, I made like $5,000. Honestly.

Q: Does your husband get jealous when he sees you doing love scenes with other men?

A: No, because he's pretty confident in what he's got. [Laughs] Yeah, he's confident in his self, in what he's carrying.

Q: You're also confident in yourself, from what I've read. Do you often take the initiative when it comes to men?

A: That used to be true. [Laughs] After I got divorced, that all came to a halt.

Q: Were you the one who first said "I love you" to Eric? And to propose marriage?

A: No. That was with my first husband, David. I was the one who proposed to him. I was clearly in love. I don't think he ever was.

Q: Does that come from knowing that men often shy away from beautiful women?

A: Yes. Otherwise you go dateless a lot. I had those--where all my girlfriends had dates except me. So I learned to be more aggressive and to make the first move.

Q: There are two comments David Justice made to People magazine that I want to bring up.

A: They're all lies. If he said it, it's a lie. I'll tell you right now. [Laughs]

Q: He said, "I always felt I was walking on eggshells with her." How do you interpret that?

A: Bullshit.

Q: And, "She was always suspicious. I've never known a girl who could throw a tantrum like she does."

A: If your husband cheated on you with prostitutes, strippers, every twinkie walking by with a skirt, you'd feel the same way. End of story.

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