Halle Berry’s childhood dream
JC
Bobby sent us a tip on a brief story in which Halle Berry remembers dreaming that she was white as a child. I don’t think that she is alone in having this sort of memory. I sometimes talk about the dreams I would have of fitting in — I also became white sometimes, but with an utterly Jewish name (Sarah Weinstein), so that I would completely fit in with the Jewish community, a community in which I was experiencing a good deal of discrimination. I don’t think it’s rare for kids — especially of our generation, and kids who may have grown up in mostly white areas – to have had these thoughts when “to be white” was seen as the ideal. We talk about the obsession that our country has with Western Beauty ideals. No wonder Halle and I had these dreams when we were little!
The stunning actress dreamed of finding a pill to turn her skin white when she was a child, according to Britain’s The Sun newspaper. The 39-year-old - who was the first black woman to win an Oscar, for her performance in ‘Monster’s Ball’ - is quoted as saying: “Being a black woman I’ve struggled with that my whole life - feeling that if I changed, my life would be better.” Meanwhile, the ‘X-Men’ star has also confessed she is insecure about her stunning looks - despite being one of the most beautiful women in the world.
The disbelief expressed in this article (about how she could possibly be insecure) is annoying and shows that there is still a lack of understanding when it comes to the dynamics of race, beauty, and self-perception in this country.
eric wrote:
ho ho hoooo the nightmares I could tell…
Posted 24 Apr 2006 at 11:31 am ¶
site admin wrote:
I second that. When I was 5 or 6 years old (living in Belgium) I used to wish that I was blonde and that my name was Claudia. I think she was a character on “Dynasty” or something. But then when I moved back to Hong Kong I had the opposite sentiment - I wished I had glossy black hair like all the “full” Chinese girls instead of the brown, bone-dry hair I did have. I guess we’ve all been through this!
–CVK
Posted 24 Apr 2006 at 12:54 pm ¶
Sir Nose wrote:
I am biracial but I never cared, as a kid all I ever wanted to do is have fun.
Posted 24 Apr 2006 at 2:09 pm ¶
tmk wrote:
Hm… I think if this was more common among females because as an Asian girl in a white-neighborhood in suburban London, I dreamed of getting blue eyes and blonde hair. I also think I became more conscious of my looks because I spoke in accented English too.
Posted 24 Apr 2006 at 2:30 pm ¶
Lyonside wrote:
Brief article alright - so brief they don’t say that she’s mixed
and whether that’s a factor. I do agree - there is more societal pressure from a very young age on girls to be a certain way based on appearance. Strong boys vs. pretty girls is enforced every time an adult tells a 2 year old girl how pretty she is when she puts on a tiara, but stops the 1 year old boy from putting on his sister’s tutu and gives him a sword (true example there) instead.
Although it just may be a
“falling along the color lines” phenomenon, so that mixed-ness doesn’t matter. Didn’t Whoopi GOldberg have an early skit about being a young girl and similating “white” hair with a towel?
When I was little, I didn’t want to be white per se. Probably because people couldn’t tell at first glance what group I looked like, and I’ve never been noted for my looks ;). I do remember, though, just wishing that I looked more like my mother, who is white. I remember the feeling not necessarily being about skin, but in a general way because she was my main parent and I was sick of people not KNOWING that she was my mom.
Posted 24 Apr 2006 at 3:17 pm ¶
Dave wrote:
Lyonside wrote “Brief article-so brief that they didn’t say that she’s mixed” Haha, funny stuff. I wonder how Halle’s perspective might have been different if she grew up in a country filled with people that looked like her, such as Dominican Republic or Egypt, or if she grew up in an arab or latino ethnic neighborhood here in the United States. Heck, I wonder how her experience would have been different if she had an older sister or 2, or just a few friends at every stage of her life that looked like her and that she could share experiences with. Sometimes it doesn’t take much to give oneself (or one’s children) good insulation against feeling that in order to belong, be liked, or be accepted they need to look different, have a different name, or both.
http://www.mulatto.org a website for folks mixed with european and african, black and white, family, friends, and supporters.
http://www.mulatto.org
Posted 24 Apr 2006 at 3:45 pm ¶
hmmm... wrote:
Dave, Halle DOES have an older sister and they are currently not speaking to each other.
Not all Egyptians look like Halle, and plenty would be offended if you suggested such. Dominicians come in a varity of skin tones, facial features, and hair textures. Not all Dominicians would except Halle. I know, I’m Dominican myself. Why don’t you take your ‘middle phenotype, brown power’ rant somewhere else. You’re becoming very irritating.
Posted 24 Apr 2006 at 4:58 pm ¶
Dave wrote:
In response to hmmm …
I didn’t say all Egyptians look like Halle Berry. It’s a country of 70 million people. I said that Egypt is filled with people that look like her, which I don’t think is a controversial statement. And the DR is filled with people that look like her too (in terms of sharing features that are a combination of european/white and african/black).
And the DR being a country of several million of course “not all Dominicans would accept her”. That’s true of any group of several million people at any point in time anywhere.
As for me becoming so “very irritating” that I shouldn’t post to MMW comments, I’ll leave that judgment to JC and CVK. They have complete power to choose whether or not each submitted comment I write ends up showing up here. If you don’t like the comments they choose to approve, perhaps it would be better for you to take your very irritated self somewhere else. *shrug*
Posted 24 Apr 2006 at 8:00 pm ¶
the joy princess wrote:
I’m guessing Halle grew up in a predominately white locale because that’s practically the only place she’d stand out. I mean women who look like her, whether “mixed” or not, even before all her plastic surgery are a dime a dozen right here in the United States. She would not have stood out at all in the diverse black community I was raised in.
Still even if she had more people of color around her or whatever, she wouldn’t necessarily have escaped the tyranny of white standards of beauty, lol. For sure plenty of “black” girls growing up in the “black community” alone pick up on some form of that I-want-to-be-a-white-girl thing too. I’d venture to say likewise for some other communities of color.
Posted 24 Apr 2006 at 9:58 pm ¶
Janice wrote:
I had the same sort of fantasies growing up. Think of all the stereotypical fairy princess we all imagined ourselves to be at one point — was she black? Was she Asian? I remember shopping for piano teachers with my parents and choosing the one with the lightest hair because I was set on having a young, blond teacher that would be kind to me. In those days, I thought young, blond, and sweet went together.
Posted 24 Apr 2006 at 10:39 pm ¶
K-Pow wrote:
I was going to say the same thing, joy princess. I too grew up in a black community that was pretty diverse in terms of skin tone, facial features, and hair texture. Halle would have stood out because she is pretty, but not because she looks “different” from everyone else, at least not in my neighborhood. In fact, until I read an article on her childhood, I never knew she was “mixed” I just thought she was black. I guess it all depends on where you grow up.
I can say that I can’t recall every dreaming about becoming white or wishing I were white. In fact for me it was sort of the opposite. I use to wish my hair was kinky so that I could look like the other girls in my neighborhood. My mother always wanted me to wear my hair down, but I wanted to wear it in braids!!
I got my hair done in braids once, but my hair was “too straight” and so my braids didn’t keep. 
Posted 25 Apr 2006 at 4:05 pm ¶
anonymous wrote:
A shame Halle still hasn’t found herself yet. Now she thinks she’s black.
Not having found herself at 39 IS tragic. Mulattoes have been socialized against their interests for too long.
Posted 27 Apr 2006 at 10:48 pm ¶
amalia wrote:
anonymous; HOW DARE YOU declare halle hasn’t found herself as she chooses to recognise her blackness. Who are you to tell her to reject her roots. “Mulattoes” are not some new race that should be separated from their black side. A true acceptance of a mixed identity means accepting *both* sides.
Your type of mentality only increases the divisiveness that CREATES the prejudices and lack of understanding between groups, problems that this site was set up to counter.
Arguing that “Mulattoes” have been socialised against their interests, with the obvious implication that they should let go of their blackness as it is “holding them back”, just buys into the whole racial hierarchy that discriminates against anyone who is NOT WHITE, including YOU.
You are selfish and racist and deluded if you think creating a little faux category for yourself just one step up from “blackness” is going to make you more acceptable to white society. In my experience, black people and other people of color have been the most accepting of the reality of my mixed roots. Most white people have been all too keen to pigeonhole me as just another “ethnic”.
YOU are the one that needs to find their self.
Posted 22 May 2006 at 5:31 pm ¶
anonymous wrote:
You are obviously the racist here for thinking that all white people think alike, all white people are racist etc. As for Halle it’s obvious from her interviews that society didn’t make room for identities other than black or white. Anybody who wants to maintain that is selfish and racist. By the way who are you to tell me how I should identify?
Posted 03 Aug 2006 at 11:53 am ¶