Halle Berry Describes Watching Her Mom Being Kicked Down Flight of Stairs by Abusive Father

By Yhanick Scott

Halle Berry gave a very emotional speech against domestic abuse at unite4:good’s unite4humanity gala when she accepted the Creative Conscience Award on Thursday night.

While giving her speech, she stated that she had to watch her mother being abused day after day by her father and even saw her get kicked down a flight of stairs. She said that it hurts her to this day that she couldn’t do anything to stop the abuse.

The Oscar Award winner went on to state in her speech that her father used a wine bottle to hit her mother in the head and the abuse continued throughout her childhood where she and her sisters were continually exposed to the detrimental environment.

“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 heart-breaking for me,” said Berry. “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.”

It’s experiences like these that change one’s life forever and it seemed to have made Berry the strong woman she is today. As a 5-year-old, she was exposed to what violence and abuse against women was like and undoubtedly must have affected her childhood as well as her adult life.

Being a victim of domestic violence and what her mother, Judith Hawkins, had to endure from her father, Jerome Berry, was more than motivation enough to take the time out of her busy schedule to make a difference as it relates to domestic violence against women.

She is heavily involved with programs such as the Jenesse Center domestic violence intervention program in Los Angeles. The actress has been a volunteer with the Jenesse Center for the last fifteen years and hence she was honored for her esteemed work done therefor the program.

She calls the Jenesse Center her heart and soul and rightfully so. It’s a place where she can now make a difference; something she was unable to do as a child seeing her mother abused.

Berry will continue to fight the battle against domestic violence against women and be a role model for children so that they can be strong and fight through the same challenges she endured.