Halle Berry On SiriusXM’s Sway In The Morning

Halle Berry recently appeared on SiriusXM’s Sway In The Morning to promote her new movie, “Never Let Go”.

While speaking with SiriusXM’s Sway Calloway, Halle Berry discussed longevity, reflected on her Oscar win and the meaning behind awards and revealed the women who paved the way and inspired her.

Halle Berry on longevity (20:04-22:34)

Sway Calloway: What advice would you give to folks about longevity that’s worked for you?

Halle Berry: Well, thank you so much for that and that always means so much. I love my people and I love that I’ve always been held up. You know, my people hold me up and over the years, that’s meant a lot to me, so when I hear mentions in those songs, that’s what that means to me. That means that’s love and that love is there I know that love is always gonna always be there for me and I really appreciate that. So, what I say about longevity is that we have to just keep being us. You know what I mean? Refuse to quit, refuse to sit down, and that’s why I know I’m still here. I’m taking my health seriously. I always have. Being diagnosed with diabetes at 19 was one of the best things that ever has happened to me because that got sugar out of my life. Sugar is a poison. It’s a toxin and I think that allows me to stay here and still be in good form and good mind and be strong and ready to keep going. I think that’s been really important. Diet and exercise has been important and I think daring to take chances. Take risks. You know, I’m not afraid of failing. I’ve failed so many damn times and so what? You just put your big girl panties back on, get back up and do it again, you know what I mean? You keep it pushing, but you have to try. You have to risk. You only win big if you risk big and we learn the most when we fail, so there’s no downside to any of it. Just keep going. Keep doing what you want to do, doing it on your own terms, making your own choices, you know, like have blinders on and not really care what people really have to say. You know, know who you are, know what you want to say, how you feel, because the truth is Sway, and this is what I do know and do Heather, when I’m dead and gone, who will care? Who will care? And you might think, “Oh, we love you Halle,” but when I’m dead and gone, for about six months, people might still talk about it but then a year later, two years later, three years later, who cares? We come here and we have to live our life for us. We have to do what’s important to us and our family because nobody really cares at the end. Even your family will forget you.

Sway Calloway: Yeah. They stop talking.

Halle Berry: You know, your family will move on. Everybody moves on, so live this life today. That’s what I say about longevity. Live your life, run your race today. You care what you do and as long as you care about what you’re doing and you feel good about what you’re doing, that’s all the really matters.

Halle Berry reflects on her Oscars win (22:45-25:15)

Sway Calloway: You’re the only one. We thought by now there’d be others. African American woman to win an Academy Award for Best Actress and the first woman of color. That was what? 23 years ago?

Halle Berry: Too many. Yes.

Sway Calloway: Too many years ago.

Halle Berry: And there’s no one else there. I know. It’s heartbreaking.

Sway Calloway: Well first of all, before it’s heartbreaking, congratulations. You broke down the door. You broke down the barrier. I can only imagine after all you’ve gone through, when they announced your name. I know we’ve got to relive this. You was a crack hoe. You know what I mean?

Halle Berry: I know. I know. How’d the crack hoe get that? I don’t know.

Sway Calloway: When they announced your name, share with us. We’re your people. Walk us through what that feels like and what you were thinking if you can recall.

Halle Berry: Yeah. I can recall that I didn’t expect that to happen because back in those days, whoever won the Golden Globe usually won the Academy Award and Sissy Spacek won. I didn’t win and it was that night that I kind of felt like, “Okay. My chances are over.” That’s really how I felt and I just tried to connect to, “Okay, but I’m here. I got as far as Dorothy Dandridge did. Okay, girl.” You know? So, I really didn’t, I was just there to wear my dress and stand up for our people and say, “Hey, I got this far,” so I was in literal shock when that happened because I had made up my mind and everybody around me had made up their mind too because the Golden Globe was that much of a precursor back then, so I don’t know what I thought, Sway. I don’t even know how I got up those steps. All I know is I heard Russell Crowe whisper in my ear, “Breathe, mate. Just breathe, mate.” He must have seen that I wasn’t even functioning, and then I don’t know what happened and I’ve seen that speech before, and it was nothing that I had written down. It just was stream of consciousness, I suppose.

Heather B: Where is that gorgeous dress? Where is that dress?

Halle Berry: I donated it to the Academy in Los Angeles.

Heather B: It was one of those things that I think for all of us, again, women of color, when you walked up there in that dress, it was just like wow.

Halle Berry: Thank you. That was also risky. People told me, “Oh no, that’s too, you can’t wear that to the Oscars.” I was like, “Hey, I’m here, so imma be here.”

Halle Berry on women who inspired her & the meaning behind awards (27:03-30:34)

Sway Calloway: Are there any folks that you liked that just acknowledge, you know, women who came before you that made it possible for you to win that Academy Award and the ones who have come after?

Halle Berry: Yeah, and I said it that night. Stream of consciousness. Dorothy Dandridge, Lena Horne, Diahann Carroll, Eartha Kitt, Hattie McDaniels, all those women. You know, Diana Ross. I actually think Diana Ross should have won for “Lady Sings the Blues.” She should’ve been the first. In my opinion, Ms. Ross should have won that award. First of all, Dorothy should’ve, and then Diana should’ve. So, there’s people that should’ve come before me, absolutely. It just happened to be me. I was the vessel that night, and after me, we got all the, Viola Davis is working now. Taraji, all of them are, Angela, they’re all out there. You know what I mean? But I’ve had to struggle with, I thought that was the door opening and I thought all my sisters were gonna walk in and the fact that they haven’t, I struggle with that all the time and I get asked about it all the time and I’ve had to come to terms with, you know, what do awards actually mean and we put so much emphasis on somebody getting an award. I just read, somebody said, “Beyoncé didn’t get a Country Music Award nomination and I’m mad,” and I thought who cares? She’s Beyoncé and she changed culture. She’s an icon. The music business hasn’t been the same since she’s got here, so who cares if she walks home with an award? What does that award do but sit on a shelf? Yes, awards are nice, and we all love to get pats on our backs, but what she’s done is bigger than an award and I think what Viola Davis has done is bigger than an award. What does the award really mean because I can tell you, I have the award, but did it really change my career? Did it make my journey indelibly easier? No. In some ways, it made it harder because now I had this award and there was so much expected of me. I had to live up to having this thing. How did I even get it in the first place? I got it by taking risks and chances and having nobody pressuring me to live up to anything. That’s how I got it, but once you get it, now all of a sudden you have to only do these kinds of movies or those kinds of roles and, “That’s not Academy Award worthy. Why is she doing that?” Because doing what I wanted to do is what got me it and I can’t stop doing that, so I don’t know if awards actually help anybody really. I think sometimes it sits down on you in a way that kind of can stifle your creativity and your ability to take chances and risks and I don’t know what it means. Just because Viola Davis doesn’t have one doesn’t mean she’s not a fantastic, she should have one. No, you know, and even though I have one, did it mean I was the best actor that year? No, but that meant I got the award. That’s what it meant, so if you don’t get it, it doesn’t mean you’re not the best, so I just try to keep it all in perspective. If you win an award, accept it graciously. God bless you. If you don’t, God bless you. Keep it pushing and since that award, Black women are in the business and working in ways that we weren’t before that, so that’s how I see the change. Look what we get to do today?

Sway Calloway: Direct, executive produce.

Halle Berry: Yes, and star and we have better roles. We’re writing now. Shonda Rhimes wrote Dorothy Dandridge back in the day, you know, so we’re doing. We’re evolving. We really are evolving albeit some awards we don’t have on our shelves, but we’re evolving.

Sway Calloway hosts SiriusXM’s Sway In The Morning alongside co-hosts Heather B and Tracy G on SiriusXM’s Shade 45 weekdays at 8:00am ET!!!