Halle Berry says she thinks she's 'ugly'

Knight Ridder ^

[Pokey78]

Halle Berry solidified her place as one of the world's sexiest women with her role as Bond girl Jinx in "Die Another Day."

But the Oscar-winning actress (Monster's Ball) says she still doesn't see herself as a beautiful star.

"To be totally honest, most of the time I think I'm ugly," she told the German magazine Journal fur die Frau. "I see myself without makeup every morning and that's why I don't have illusions anymore. I certainly don't feel like a big star."

Berry added that being black still hinders her progress in Hollywood.

"For many film studios and directors skin color remains a problem. They don't believe that the audience will accept a black actor in the main role. These narrow-minded people underestimate the public and prevent advancement in the industry."

Berry's next film will be "X-2," the sequel to "X-Men" slated for a May 2 release.

[LWalk18]

In case the post above gets pulled if I used the controversial term:

It wasn't her use of negro, it was another word that might have crossed the line. Anyway, I hope that she will be reinstated, I don't believe she meant to be offensive, she just used an outdated term.

[wardaddy]

Well....I don't like the term "cracker". Many folks here think that's funny. I don't. The term has been used derisively against me usually preceded by some strong curse words like MFing Cracker or Pu$$yA$$ Cracker...frequently resulting in a fight(s).

But, I just deal with it. I know it's meaning as used in the black community and it's not all innocuous. They don't sit around glowing over those "darling Crackers" but we accept it and even laugh (or fight) about it and move on.

If I'm talking to MHKing or any other black FReeper that I respect and since it's a public forum then while I will resist patronizing him or her because they are black, I will because of good manners try not to offend them with words that can be misinterpreted.

I don't have an issue with someone saying what they think being black "is" even if they aren't, nor do I care if they tell me I'm not white enough....both admittedly laughable.

I'm a bit more relaxed about all this. I don't think there is much of a presence of white supremacy on this forum or in this country...now. In fact, I think whites are arguably less overtly racist than most. Many whites are saddled with white guilt (I wish it were shame instead) which causes them to vote stupidly and emotively. The total number of white supremacists in this country would not begin to fill your average Nation of Islam rally. IMHO.

Passive racism (a new code word) is of course different. I have lived the world over and have seen no culture or nation where it does not exist almost universally including here. Racial/Ethnic/Nationalistic/Regionalistic/Religious chavaunism is sort of universal even if suppressed. It becomes an issue when it is used as justification for oppression or to incite violence.

I have lived most of my life in environments which are/were sizably black or predominately black and I have never lived in a white cocoon. Just my observations and thoughts.

Now....back to more serious matters. Can we just forget about Halle Berry and move on to Thandie Newton whom I much prefer personally....in that theme.

[lawdude]

This young girl needs a good talking to. I do believe she is one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen. My wife agrees.

Halle, please give me a call and I will see if I can help you come to your senses.

[MVV]

Yeah that's the reason why you can't compare her to a Whoppi Goldberg w/dreadlocks!

[cyborg]

Goldberg should have won for playing Celie. I really liked her in Jumping Jack Flash. I was jealous that she got the guy in the end! What was she thinking with that dweeb Ted Danson?

[wardaddy]

Well damn...someone was tossed for saying "negro"....geez.

It would have to have been used in terribly poor context to merit that.

But...it's the AM's job. I'm not one obviously so...there. Looks like it's only some "hole" time so.

FR has gotten really PC lately. The women in combat threads seem like Mars to a neanderthal like me. Most FReepers today applaud sending mommies and daughters off to war while lazy college boys lay around smoking dope and watching MTV....not a recipe for longterm survival in my view.

Liberals just take it for granted that all their tribe are racially sensitive, even they in my view they are paternalistic patronizers who are part of the problem and not the solution.

Conservatives clamour all over themselves to see who can be the most racially enlightened...out of guilt...or defensiveness. I don't get it. It cheapens equality to me.

Welcoming them is another matter and should be encouraged. Same as it is for any other "minority" but it should stop there insofar as deference....aside from good manners.

Does any self respecting black man or woman want to be sucked up to because they are black and espouse common sense Conservatism. I can't speak for them but my "Danger Will Robinson" antennae go up when folks suck up to me.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

I don't think there is much of a presence of white supremacy on this forum or in this country...

Well, FR doesn't tolerate things like that. I've seen some pretty shocking comments get pulled...so I know they're out there. They just don't last long once they reveal themselves.

And now, per your request, back to the very pressing issue of beautiful women. : )

[csvset]

Anytime I see the words 'Barbershop' all I can think of is Cedric the Entertainer.

I rented Barbershop this weekend, Cedric's character stole the show.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

Well damn...someone was tossed for saying "negro"....geez.

That's speculation, wardaddy - the only person who knows why she got the cooler time is the Admin.

[wardaddy]

Actually I was just freeped more specifically. The word in question is not one I would use except in context and quite rarely if ever. I can't think of any use other than dated literary. add -ess to the root to describe a black woman.

That one is not a very good choice admittedly but I would have had to see the whole post. It's a dead horse now and as you said and I concurred above to another post....it's the AM's job ...they do pretty good actually.

I'm over it....whatvever it was...lol

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

She's prettier than the average "african american", I guess she can thank her white mother for that.

Sigh...

[Doctor Stochastic]

She's also prettier than the average "white american," I guess she can thank her father for that?

[optik_b]

"FR has gotten really PC lately. The women in combat threads seem like Mars to a neanderthal like me. Most FReepers today applaud sending mommies and daughters off to war while lazy college boys lay around smoking dope and watching MTV....not a recipe for longterm survival in my view. "

I took some serious bashing from a few posters for starting a thread saying that I didn't understand the policy of sending teenage girls into the battle zone. Many of the responses pointed out that this is the kind of stupidity that radical feminism leads to.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

She's also prettier than the average "white american," I guess she can thank her father for that?

Any minute now, I would just about bet my house that someone is going to come along and tell you that's because of her plastic surgeon, NOT her father's black genes. And since I don't want to be here to witness it (I've had about enough of this conversation), I think I'll hit the sack. : )

[wardaddy]

Yeah....I gave em up mostly.

That type of "conservatism" is latin to me.

[Con X-Poser]

Daughter of a vet to Con X poser: "You had better not be accusing me of that. I have been very careful to represent what I saw accurately."

One thing I will accuse you of is making nebulous insinuations which are often worse than outright accusations because they allow reader's imaginations to run wild.

DOAIJV "I just groaned, because seeing someone lecture a black man on the physical features of other blacks"

He commented on Jael's remarks, lecturing her, and used derogatory terms that black people who look black are stereotypical blue black. Jael was actually defending the way most Black Americans look.

DOAIJV "It's not the candid nature of the talk that bothers me. It's the ignorance and arrogance of an individual who presumes to argue with a black man about what "real" black people look like. (And though I have not looked to see, I believe the post that got pulled was probably the one in which she used a rather dated term to refer to an individual's blackness - which revealed something to me, frankly.)"

Revealed what? Jael is a writer. She reads constantly. She uses literary terms often. So what are you implying that is "revealed"?
You calling Jael ignorant and arrogant is accurate based on what? Jael used what was a scientific term. What does it reveal to DOAIJV? That makes you able to read Jael's mind and imply to the forum that she is a racist? Halle Berry doesn't look black. It's not a crime to say that and defend the looks of people who do look black.

If the term is dated, why is it used in 29 current posts as a keyword? It's certainly not racist.

Another example of DOAIJV accurately representing Jale? How about her next comment insinuating that Jael is a racist ?

DOAIIJV "And in truth, when I hear people use words like that, I can't help but feel I have an instant understanding of their paradigm...which is part of the reason everything she said after that looked a little less benign to me than it may have otherwise."

Words like WHAT? What's looking a little less benign is your supposed outrage at something that never happened. Why don't you tell us why you'd spend so much time in so many post defaming Jael? You don't instantly understand the woman, obviously. She said in other post how she respects the work of other black actress, and you saw how she defended the looks of most black Americans. And you want to pretend like you instantly know her and imply that she is a racist? Not very benign of you, based on the facts.

Do you also call your below comment accurate????

DOAIIJV "She just uses dated terminology to identify black Americans.

This is a lie. The word is used to define physical characteristics. Jael didn't use the term negro to describe Black Americans as a group. The implications that she goes around on this forum describing blacks in plural is a lie. Yet if she did, so what? The majority race in America is identified by the term "Caucasian", so why would it be wrong to identify a race by the term "negro"?

DOAIIJV "She says things like this (to a black man, by the way - so what's the subtext here?):"

When Jael replied to the poster she didn't know what color he was and had no idea he was anything other than an American. She doesn't make comments to people based on their skin color. In the context of the discussion about what Berry looks like, the remarks are not out of line.


DOAIIJV "I suppose it seems subtle to you, but to me, it's kinda screaming 1950. (She certainly has her stereotyping skills in high gear.)"

Implying Jael is a racist because she is defending the looks of most Black Americans, (including her own family) is stereotyping? No, it's you that is stereotyping, and not being very accurate at all.

DOAIIJV "calling people what they want to be called is such an easy thing to do. It takes a truly stubborn person with little generosity of heart in regard to race to continue calling people something that may wound them."

So why do you keep implying Jael is a racist? She wasn't using the term negro against the wishes of anyone. She used it in regards to the discussion about the lack of negroid features in Halle Berry. You still want to call yourself accurate?

BTW, just what term should be used? Jesse Jackson and his henchmen do not speak for their entire race. The NAACP uses the term "colored". African-American is an erroneous term and it discriminates against blacks who are not from Africa (Jamaicans and others).

DOAIIJV "But it strikes me as petty, small, and ugly."

Yes, what's been said by you has been petty, small, and very ugly. What's your motive?

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

Yeah, I know I said all that, and I meant every word.

Now, as for YOU.

You certainly seem to know Jael well (you seem to know what she does, what she thinks, how she feels - which is interesting, in the context of all this) and golly, gosh you sure must like her to spend all this time and energy taking up for her. Got me curious, so I checked - and you are rather new around here:

Con X-Poser
Since Feb 2, 2003

Pinging all kinds of people (like TLBSHOW, for some reason...has he been on this thread?), calling for the Admin's attention like an old pro...seemed a little odd, but then I was reminded of a post I saw a few weeks ago.

I don't even want to know if YOU'RE a retread too - in fact, I'm not interested in you at all, beyond my amusement regarding your behavior here. I just think it's kind of funny. LOL

[Con X-Poser]

<< Yeah, I know I said all that, and I meant every word. >>

Well then, why did you try to back off what you said?

<< Now, as for YOU. >>

Now you're gonna sling some hash at me and answer my questions of your character?

<< You certainly seem to know Jael well (you seem to know what she does, what she thinks, how she feels - which is interesting, in the context of all this) and golly, gosh you sure must like her to spend all this time and energy taking up for her. >>

It did take five or ten minutes. I do know Jael from several forums, for several years. So what?

<< Got me curious, so I checked - and you are rather new around here: Con X-Poser Since Feb 2, 2003 >>

<< calling for the Admin's attention like an old pro...seemed a little odd, but then I was reminded of a post I saw a few weeks ago.:

Acually, I've found that you are a retread. Just not the one they think you are. If I were you, I'd change my posting habits. In fact, you might want to become invisible. Definitely do not stir up any trouble. Probabtionary retreads do not get many warnings, if any at all. by Jim Robinson

I don't even want to know if YOU'RE a retread too >>

Ah! Now an insinuation that I am a retread. Your accusations against Jael turned out to be baseless, so you've set your gun sights on me. But I'm wearing a bulletproof vest.

<< in fact, I'm not interested in you at all, beyond my amusement regarding your behavior here. I just think it's kind of funny. LOL >>

You're interested enough to try to smear me and post railing accusations and insinuations about me. But your innuendo is still EMPTY and bordering on DECEIT.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz...yeah, sure, whatever "newbie". LOL