Halle Berry: Domestic violence hit me bad

Even if you’ve heard the story before, it is still touching and shocking as Halle Berry recalled the sad event of her childhood at the unite4:good’s unite4:humunity gala, where she was honored for work with the center.
The Oscar winner told the gathering that she was a victim of domestic violence. “I wasn’t married to a man that beat me up, but my mother was.
“I was just five years old when I witnessed the horrific abuse. My mom was beaten day after day after day,” Berry said.
“I watched her get kicked down stairs and hit in the head with a wine bottle when she wasn’t looking.
“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.
“The abuse continued for some time. 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,” Berry said.
Because of this traumatic childhood experience the Hollywood star eagerly volunteers with the Jenesse Center, the oldest domestic violence intervention program in Los Angeles. She began working with Jenesse 15 years ago.
“The reason I say this organization is my heart and soul is because I understand the good that it does and the lives that it changes and the impact it has on women and the children in our community,” she said.

-Ify Chiemezie

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