Halle Berry Advises Women Not to Get 'Bogged Down' by Pressure to Have Babies in Their 30s

The mom of two urges women to do things in their own time, in their own way

Halle Berry is empowering women at every stage.

After appearing on stage at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity panel, the Monster's Ball actress, 56, told Women's Health about the advice that's guiding her that she hopes to share with other women.

"I'm solidly in my womanhood. I finally realize what I have to say is valuable, even if no one else agrees," she told the outlet. "Here’s what I tell women: Own wherever you are."

Later, she continued, "If you're in your mid-thirties, don't be bogged down by the idea that you have to have children by a certain age."

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Related: Halle Berry's 2 Kids: Everything She's Said About Her Children

"You decide. And if you want to have children, you don't have to be defined by those old ideologies that this is what women ‘have’ to do," said Berry, who is mom to son Maceo, 9½, and daughter Nahla, 15.

"Do it only if you want to, because you give up a lot of your personal life to growing those other lives," she noted. "And maybe you're not a woman who wants to do that. No harm, no foul, no judgment."

The actress welcomed her first child, daughter Nahla Ariela Aubry, with her ex Gabriel Aubry in March 2008. Berry's son Maceo-Robert Martinez, whom she shares with ex-husband Olivier Martinez, was born five years later.

In 2019, the mother of two told InStyle that she "loved being pregnant" and "probably would have had five children" if she had "started earlier." She added, "Or if I hadn't been busy trying to make movies, I would have been the perfect surrogate."

And although her two kids are growing up, they'll always be "little" in her eyes. When the actress received the People's Icon award at the 2021 People's Choice Awards, she thanked her son and daughter and also offered them some words of wisdom.

"My two little kids, they have to lose so much time with their mommy because I get to go work and do what I love, so thank you Nahla, thank you Maceo — I hope you find something in life that you can love and you can do with as much vigor and as much zest as I do what I do. I love you guys," she said.

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