How Halle Berry Has Stayed Fit as a Working Mother of Two: 'I Have to Work at It Every Day'

Re-spin Halle Berry for Re-spin

Halle Berry's health and fitness hasn't taken a backseat in working motherhood, but she has had to adjust to make time for it all.

In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, the actress and entrepreneur opens up about her health-and-wellness platform re-spin, plus how she makes her mental and physical well-being a priority while juggling work and being a mother of two — all during a pandemic.

"I've made it my mission to find time in the day to exercise, get work done and be a mom," says Berry, 54, who has a 7-year-old son named Maceo-Robert and daughter Nahla Ariela, 12. "I think during COVID, it's been easy to forget the time in our day to be active because we just can't do the things that we used to do and it's hard to find ways to do that at home."

One way the star is able to stay active and creative at home is by leveraging re-spin products, like the Weighted Jump Rope ($18.99), Yoga Wheel ($31.99), Full-Body Resistance Loop ($16.99) and A Journal on Joy ($34).

"I created the Journal on Joy as one of the tools to help remind people of what brings them joy," Berry tells PEOPLE. "The Journal on Joy guides you through setting intentions, finding affirmations and manifesting your life."

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Re-spin Halle Berry for Re-spin

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She adds, "Discovering new, creative ways to stay active to feel inspired and energized while also making it fun when things feel mundane and monotonous has been key for my mental and physical health."

Berry says that "the most important agenda" she has these days is "being well and physically fit and healthy" — but reveals that how she maintains that priority of wellness "has taken on a new meaning as I've become a mom in my 40s."

"I have to work at it every day," she explains. "I have to think about what I put in my body via food, how I exercise and all the ways I can work hard that will allow me to be here through as many phases of the lives of my children as I can."

Berry is set to make her directorial debut with Bruised, in which she also stars. And she tells PEOPLE that her training for the upcoming Netflix sports drama (on whose set she was injured back in 2019) "was nothing like I've ever experienced in my whole career."

"Learning all the things I had to do for this film on top of the hours and hours spent fighting and training to prepare for this movie was, hands down, the hardest thing I've had to do," she says. "I did jiu-jitsu, shadowboxed, skipped rope with our speed and weighted ropes, sprawling, capoeira, you name it — five days a week, for 60 to 90 minutes at a time."

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"Not only was I training physically, but it was also my directorial debut," she says. "I was pretty much working 20 hours a day between all the things I had to do."

Berry tells PEOPLE she was inspired to launch re-spin after the success of her digital fan-focused platform Hallewood in the early 2000s (and subsequent 2016 re-launch), in an effort to "do something more substantial and significant this time around" and give her "a voice that mattered that lived outside of my work as an actor."

To that end, the Die Another Day actress strived to build an online community "that could help all people across the board and that could address the needs of people who were interested in health, wellness, fitness, giving back, learning, growing and pivoting, and who were committed to living a mindful life and their best life."

She explains that she wanted the platform "to be a hug" for people to "have a conversation" and share ideas: "We're like-minded people who care about free thinking."

"I can talk about my journey, but I also created the environment to learn about everyone else's journey and see how we are very much alike, and stop focusing on our differences," she says.