In a perfect world, I would be a painter. I love working with my hands. I don't get to do it as much as I like, but I am finding a way to make more time as life goes on because it's a really great outlet for me to express myself.
— Halle Berry
I won't have a traditional marriage; I don't find the value in that anymore. But I am such a hopeless romantic and I really want love and I want a committed relationship, so I am going to reinvent marriage for myself.
My style has evolved in a nice way, but everyone has bad moments.
Being biracial is sort of like being in a secret society. Most people I know of that mix have a real ability to be in a room with anyone, black or white.
People win Oscars, and then it seems like they fall off the planet. And that's partly because a huge expectation walks in the room and sits right down on top of your head. The moment I won the Oscar, I felt the teardown the very next day.
I think there's a certain level of trust that I have with women. I've always been honest, even when I haven't had good times in my life or my movie bombed or I've had great success. I've owned up to all of it.
Blackness is a state of mind, and I identify with the black community. Mainly, because I realized, early on, when I walk into a room, people see a black woman, they don't see a white woman. So out of that reason alone, I identify more with the black community.
Don't take yourself too seriously. Know when to laugh at yourself, and find a way to laugh at obstacles that inevitably present themselves.
Being a mother is probably the most important thing in my life right now.
People win 'Oscars', and then it seems like they fall off the planet. And that's partly because a huge expectation walks in the room and sits right down on top of your head.
I am a hopeless romantic. And I won't stop till I get it right.
I see women in their 30s getting plastic surgery, pulling this up and tucking that back. It's like a slippery slope - once you start you pull one thing one way and then you think, 'Oh my God, I've got to do the other side.'
I always had to diet. I'm diabetic, so it's a lifestyle for me anyway just to stay healthy and not end up in the hospital.
My mother helped me identify myself the way the world would identify me. Bloodlines didn't matter as much as how I would be perceived.
Self-esteem comes from who you have in your life. How you were raised. What you struggled with as a child.
I think I've evolved into someone pretty confident - in myself and in my skin.
I'll never get married again, and I always hate to say never to anything, but I will never marry again.
When I think, where did I laugh the most, where did I eat the most, where did I just feel good all the time, I would say making the Bond movie 'Die Another Day.' To be part of such an iconic franchise and to travel to exotic places - that was the most fun I ever had.
I think I am at my best when my hair is short. It's easier to take care of and more of who I am. Women are conditioned to think we need long hair.
Throughout my career I have been talked out of things I wanted to do, and when I look back, I think I should have followed my instincts.
A person's self-esteem has nothing to do with how she looks.
I do not love to work out, but if I stick to exercising every day and put the right things in my mouth, then my diabetes just stays in check.
I'm not the girl for super high fashion because I don't have the right body. When I want to get dressed up, I'm a Roberto Cavalli girl.
There have been so many people who have said to me, 'You can't do that,' but I've had an innate belief that they were wrong. Be unwavering and relentless in your approach.
The first step is clearly defining what it is you're after, because without knowing that, you'll never get it.
Career is important, but nothing really supersedes my roles as a mother.
I don't think I'm unlike a lot of people. I am just someone who is trying to find that mate, and I think it's a really hard thing to do.
I'm not done with love, but I refuse to settle.
I think we have become obsessed with beauty and personally I'm really saddened by the way women mutilate their faces today in search of that.
I like Doritos. I'm usually watching 'The Biggest Loser' eating Doritos.
By the time I left school, I had a lot of tenacity.
I'm a much better mother at 46... than if I were like, 21 or 25.
I never wanted to be a model. My modelling career was nothing but a stepping stone to my acting career and that's all I ever saw it as. A pointless rock in the river that has to be stepped on in order to get to the meaningful oasis of acting.
The times may have changed, but the people are still the same. We're still looking for love, and that will always be our struggle as human beings.
I'm not a fanatic about exercising. For me, it's about moderation and balance.
I archive a lot of my clothes and have them wrapped up and in boxes. I call them 'little tombs' and keep them in a storage space... I would never get rid of the dress I wore on the night I won my Oscar. When I die, someone can have it, but not a minute before!
What's hardest for me to swallow is when there is a love story, say, with a really high-profile male star and there's no reason I can't play the part. They say, 'Oh, we love Halle, we just don't want to go black with this part.'
I'm not done with love, but I refuse to settle. I am a hopeless romantic. And I won't stop till I get it right.
I'm not one of these actresses like, 'Okay, where's the camera? Is it here? Is it here?' I don't even ask the questions because I don't really want to know. I like not performing for a camera but giving it my best every single time whether you're close or whether you're far.
You think you know what love is - until you have a child and discover that unconditional mother love.
If you set out to do something and you give it your all and it doesn't work out, be willing to modify your goal slightly. Have the ability to look in another direction. A small shift could guide you to the real purposes of your life.
If you're of multiple races, you have a different challenge, a unique challenge of embracing all of who you are but still finding a way to identify yourself and I think that's often hard for us to do.
Every story about me is so heavy and dramatic. That's not how I do life. But that's the impression people have, and that's what keeps getting reiterated. As if I'm still stuck in all the muck of the past. And I am so not.
I'm just going to live my life and be who I am.
Let me tell you something - being thought of as a beautiful woman has spared me nothing in life. No heartache, no trouble. Love has been difficult. Beauty is essentially meaningless and it is always transitory.
I'm not the girl for superhigh fashion because I don't have the right body.
Having a baby takes so much from you. It's the most glorious thing you'll ever do, but the aftermath is not so glorious!
I always had to prove myself through my actions. Be a cheerleader. Be class president. Be the editor of the newspaper.
I carried my Oscar to bed with me. My first and only three-way happened that night.
I guess you could say I have bad taste in men. But I no longer feel the need to be someone's wife.
