Just because Halle Berry has won an Oscar doesn't mean life has been easy.
The Catwoman star spoke with The New York Times about her upcoming movie Bruised (out Nov. 17) and addressed misconceptions about "hardship" she has faced in her life.
Berry said she "loved" the movie, which she directed and stars in as martial arts fighter Jackie Justice, "because fighting is something that I just know so much about on a personal level and on a career level." She said, "I understand what it is to fight and not be heard... I understand the trauma of life that makes one want to fight, need to fight, have to fight."
According to journalist Salamishah Tillet, Berry appears on-screen with "swollen" eyes and "bleeding" lips for a look of "disfigurement." The author explains, "She wanted to play Jackie because she saw parts of herself—past and present—in her story and her struggle for more."
As Berry explained, "This is another battle I fought my whole life. That because I look a certain way that I've been spared any hardship. I've had loss and pain and a lot of hurt in my life. I've had abuse in my life."
She added, "I get really frustrated when people think because I look a certain way that I haven't had any of those real-life experiences because I absolutely have."
Berry has spoken publicly about being a "victim of domestic violence" and has been a longtime volunteer with the domestic violence intervention program Jenesse Center. At the 2015 unite4:humunity gala, she told the crowd, "I wasn't married to a man that beat me up, but my mother was."
The 55-year-old actress recalled that when she was 5 years old, she watched her mother beaten "day after day after day," getting "kicked down stairs" and hit in the head with a wine bottle.
"Knowing that she wanted nothing more than for her little girls to see her be empowered and be a woman of strength—but having no way to make that happen—was heartbreaking for me," Berry said. "She stayed for too long and her children, my sister and I, saw far too much and I've suffered the damage of being a child of domestic violence."
Furthermore, Berry reportedly told People in 1996 that an ex-boyfriend punctured her eardrum while hitting her.
Speaking with the NYT this week, she suggested that her fame has not protected her from pain. "This hasn't spared me one heartbreak or heartache or fearful or tearful moment, trust me," she shared.
Bruised will be in theaters on Nov. 17 before debuting on Netflix the following week.