When you're Halle Berry, you talk when you want to talk. And after a long-standing silence, the Academy Award-winning actress has opened up to writer Jonathan Van Meter in the September issue of Vogue (on newsstands nationwide Aug. 24). Berry, 43, chats about being a mom to 2-year-old daughter Nahla and her split with Nahla's father, Gabriel Aubry. USA TODAY highlights Berry's best bits.
On why she hasn't given a lengthy interview in three years: "I was burned-out with having other people tell the story about me they wanted to tell. I told my publicist, 'I'm not going to talk anymore. I'm just going to live my life and be who I am.' "
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Why she's talking now: "What (being on the cover of the September Vogue) means for a woman of color and what that means in the fashion world, what that means to pop culture, there was no way I could say, 'No, I'm not going to be on the biggest issue of the year.' "
On her breakup with Aubry: "It's just that you realize you are not meant to go the distance with everybody. … We were meant to bring this amazing little person into the world. And I think that's why we came together. And because of that, we are going to be together forever, all three of us."
Does her no-more-marriage stance still stand? "Yes. 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 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. And I'm not willing to stay somewhere where I am really not happy. And I am not willing to pretend I am for the kid's sake or so that I don't have to go through another public humiliation."
Why she thinks 'nature has got it all wrong': "When you are younger, it should be harder to get pregnant, and as you get older, it should be easier. When you are so ready, you can't do it to save your life. And when you are 21, you are so not ready, but you are ripe as could be. The eggs should become more developed the older you get, not die slowly from the day you're born. That's one thing God got wrong."
On asking Nahla to say Berry's name in case she ever got lost: "She thought about it for a second, and finally she said, 'Halle Blueberries!' Blueberries are her favorite fruit. … I'm just glad she didn't say 'Halle Blackberry.' "
On being comfortable with her sexuality: "That comes with age … I've been slowly getting there. If the world wouldn't persecute me, I'd take nude pictures every day of the week."
On the so-called Oscar curse: "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 thought, if I'm going down, I'm going down taking chances and daring to risk. Hence …Catwoman."
On the biggest misconception people have about her: "That I am this brooding, twisted, lovesick person who just can't get it right in life. 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."
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