Halle Berry White School Prom Queen Controversy Explained<\/p>\n
Halle Berry<\/a> has opened up about her experience of being one of the only Black people in her school as a teenager \u2014 and how the faculty refused to accept that she was voted prom queen over a white girl.<\/p>\n For reference, Halle\u2019s mom is white, and her dad is Black. Her father walked away from the family when Halle was just 4 years old, and the star has been open about how being solely raised by a white mom impacted her<\/a> growing up.<\/p>\n Speaking in the PBS documentary American Masters: How It Feels to Be Free<\/a> back in 2021, Halle explained that it was \u201cvery, very important\u201d for her to find Black role models when she was younger. She added: \u201cI really struggled to find images of Black women or women that I could identify with.\u201d<\/p>\n “I was a Black child being raised by a white woman, so I didn’t have those images in my household,” Halle went on. “Finding them on television and through movies became very, very crucial to me.”<\/p>\n And now, in a new interview with the Cut,<\/a> Halle recalled moving from a city school with a mostly Black student body to an all-white school in the suburbs when she was in fourth grade. This means that she would have been around 9 or 10 years old at the time.<\/p>\n \u201cI had a teacher, Yvonne Sims \u2014 she\u2019s still a close friend and the godmother to both of my kids \u2014 who was one of the only two Black teachers at the school,\u201d Halle, now 59, began.<\/p>\n Halle explained that this teacher taught her to love her skin and embrace her Black culture, with Halle struggling with not looking like her mom throughout her childhood.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery little girl wants to be like her mother, you know? But my mom had blonde hair and blue eyes,\u201d she shared. \u201cI would put a yellow bath towel on my head just to look like her. I struggled.\u201d<\/p>\n But that\u2019s not to say that Halle\u2019s natural beauty went unnoticed by other people, and she was even voted prom queen when she was in high school \u2014 seemingly to the disdain of the staff.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a Black girl, I was not the symbol of who they wanted for their queen,\u201d Halle told the publication, revealing that the faculty accused her of forging ballot votes. She recalled the teachers forcing her to flip a coin against a white girl to decide who would reign. Halle did not say who won the coin toss.<\/p>\n Acknowledging that she raged over this situation \u201cinwardly,\u201d Halle believes the experience taught her how to confront injustice. She said: \u201cAnother thing nobody really gets about me is that I\u2019ve been a fighter my whole life \u2014 fighting to be seen for who I really am, fighting to be taken seriously as an artist, fighting the stigma of beauty.\u201d<\/p>\n And this is not the first time<\/a> that Halle has addressed the misconception surrounding her looks.<\/p>\n Speaking to the New York Times<\/a> in 2021, Halle shared: \u201cThis is another battle I fought my whole life. That because I look a certain way that I’ve been spared any hardship.”<\/p>\n \u201cI’ve had loss and pain and a lot of hurt in my life. I’ve had abuse in my life,” she added at the time. “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.”<\/p>\n \u201cThis hasn’t spared me one heartbreak or heartache or fearful or tearful moment,\u201d Halle concluded. \u201cTrust me.\u201d<\/p>\n What do you make of Halle\u2019s comments? Let me know down below!<\/p>\n It’s the 100th anniversary of Black History Month<\/a> this year! Follow all of our coverage here<\/a>. Of course, the content doesn’t end after February. Follow BuzzFeed\u2019s Cocoa Butter on Instagram<\/a>, TikTok<\/a>, and YouTube<\/a> to keep up with our latest Black culture content year-round<\/p>\n