Halle Berry is a mother of two, and her first daughter Nahla turned 15 in 2023. When the actress first found out she was pregnant with Nahla, she took 35 tests to make sure because having children was something she had wanted for a long time. Years later, she found herself battling in court for her daughter.
Halle Berry has broken many records as an actress, including being the first black woman to win an Oscar. But besides her accolades, she had always wanted to become a mother.
The actress celebrated her daughter Nahla’s 15th birthday and shared a series of pictures of her on her social media.
Berry could not have been more proud of being Nahla’s mother; she wrote, “One of the greatest gifts the universe has given me is my daughter, Nahla.” She even asked her followers to join her in wishing her baby a happy birthday.
The actress’ followers did not hold back; they wished the 15-year-old the best birthday and hoped she grew up to be as “smart, powerful, dynamic, and beautiful as her mother.” She has also been called “gorgeous just like her Momma.”
Several more comments remarked that Nahla looked like her mother, adoring the loving bond between them.
The actress loved sharing the special moment of welcoming a child with her then-partner Gabriel Aubry and their relationship seemed to be for the long run, but several issues led to a long court battle.
On Mother’s Day 2023, Berry took to Instagram to share a photo of herself and her children walking hand-in-hand on the beach and wished all mothers worldwide a Happy Mother’s Day.
Berry called mothers “loving and selfless” and the post was met with fans wishing Berry a Happy Mother’s Day and talking about how beautiful the photo she shared was.
Halley Berry’s Messy Court Battle with Her Daughter’s Father
The “Catwoman” star welcomed her daughter with model Aubry, and Nahla carries her father’s surname. The name Nahla, like many celebrity kids’ names, is not common but has a beautiful meaning behind it.
According to Michael D. Cooperson, a professor of Arabic at UCLA, Nahla is derived from the language and means honeybee.
Nahla’s second name is Ariela, which means “lion of God” in Hebrew. Berry was not the first celebrity to take inspiration from the Hebrew language for baby names.
Nonetheless, the arrival of her first daughter was surreal for the actress. She had wanted a child for many years and reportedly took 35 pregnancy tests to make sure she was positively pregnant.
With the blessing of falling pregnant, Berry was lucky to have a smooth pregnancy. She said she did not experience any vomiting, hot flashes, or morning sickness. “I loved every second of it,” she gushed.
During her pregnancy, Berry graced the cover of In Style magazine. Since it was her first pregnancy, she wanted everything to be documented in style. The actress said then, “I may only do this one time, so I want this moment to be as big as it can be. I want the biggest bang I can possibly imagine.”
Before Berry dated Aubry, she already had two failed marriages behind her, but the actress never walked down the aisle with the father of her daughter.
Instead, she felt that the Canadian-French model understood her on a spiritual level that already made it feel like they were married. The actress thought the connection was more important than a piece of paper.
“The Monster’s Ball” star continued to express that there were other ways to stay committed to a person without marriage. “I feel more married in a way than I ever have in two marriages before,” she explained
Although things were looking promising between Berry and Aubry, things started to get rocky, and they ended up in a court.
While Berry had previously requested to move to France to protect her family from her two stalkers, one of whom threatened to slit her throat open and escaped from a psychiatric hospital, she also had another reason for filing papers in court, and it was concerning Aubry. She wanted to protect her daughter from some of her father’s ways of thinking.
Berry claimed Aubry had made offensive racial comments about her and convinced their then-six-year-old daughter to dye her hair blonde.
Berry felt that Aubry was not creating a healthy environment for their daughter’s physical and psychological development. She also worried that Aubry would cause Nahla to question why “her natural appearance [was] not good enough,” argued the actress.
This whole debacle played out in court, where Berry further cited that her then-former model partner straightened their daughter’s hair, which she thought was a way for him to get Nahla to neglect her American heritage.
One close source of Berry’s even seconded the actress’s accusations, stating that Aubry had said derogatory racial slurs to the actress. According to the close friend, Aubry said, “Halley is a great mom; she wants to keep Nahla on an even keel.”
This was a critical case for Berry because she did not want her child to lose her identity, especially regarding her hair, since Nahla’s father denied dyeing or straightening their daughter’s.
Berry went as far as collecting scientific evidence and submitting strands of Nahla’s hair from her hairbrush for forensic testing in 2014.
The actress clarified that she was unwilling to do the back and forth of “he said, she said” and decided to get concrete evidence of the damage being caused to her child.
She argued that dyeing her daughter’s hair blonde and straightening it was a way to get rid of its texture and said these actions were deeply rooted in Aubry’s racist comments toward her.
Berry’s speculations were proven right because labs confirmed that Nahla’s hair had been chemically treated and damaged from repeated exposure to chemical treatments.
As a black woman, Berry wanted her daughter to be aware that she, too, was black. The actress expressed, “I feel she’s black. I’m black, and I’m her mother and I believe in the one-drop theory.”
Eventually, after two years of dating and a messy custody battle, Berry and Aubry settled on joint custody of their daughter. However, Aubry went to get into more trouble after being arrested for getting into a fistfight with the actress’ then-fiancé, Olivier Martinez.
Additionally, the initial court agreement was for Berry to pay $14,000 in child support, but the actress fought to bring it down to $4,000 to motivate Aubry to get a job.
In 2021, Berry took to Instagram to share a photo confirming that women do not owe anyone anything. It sparked a heated debate about gender roles and expectations in relationships.
The actress mentioned that it was difficult for her to pay for her daughter every day, which led to a fan asking whether or not she thought men paying child support and alimony was wrong. Berry replied:
“I’m not going to speak on alimony as I have never asked for it nor have I ever paid it. However, as for child support, I feel I can speak on it because I have been paying it for a decade now.”
Berry then confirmed that she thought if someone was being forced to pay more money than was necessary, she thought that it was wrong. The actress mentioned nobody should be extorted into paying more than what was necessary.
The actress then said that while she understood that men and women might sometimes need some assistance, she felt mothers and fathers should both be responsible for their children’s financial safety.
Berry felt that many laws afforded people the opportunity to use their children to gain money out of someone else, which she didn’t believe was healthy for either the child or the person being asked to pay.
The actress said the rules were outdated and that in the modern world, the laws no longer worked for everyone involved. However, she clarified that it was simply her opinion and that she did now “own the truth.”
Berry said she knew what it felt like to pay everyday and understands the feelings of the men who are paying exorbitant fees for their children and their children’s other parent.
She also thanked her followers for their love and understanding, saying that she thought the discussion was an important one to have.
Berry currently pays child support for Nahla and takes care of all her education. However, she does not pay child support for her Maceo, who she shares with her ex, Olivier Martinez.
Berry has always been passionate about the health and care of children. The actress was even awarded Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA’s Kaleidoscope Award.
The actress also traveled with The World Food Program to Nicaragua with her daughter when she was seven. Both mother and daughter came back from the trip with valuable lessons. Berry realized her responsibility was to teach her child to care for other children.
Nahla learned how privileged she was and returned from the trip motivated to give away some of her material belongings like dolls and bikes. She even put up a lemonade stand twice a month to raise funds for children in need.
Berry expressed her pride in her daughter and continued emphasizing the importance of caring for one another.
One thing the “Moonfall” star did not compromise on as her children were growing up was putting them on social media. She explained that she did not find it fair to put their faces all over social media because they would eventually get to a point where they use it anyway.
The actress also has a child, Maceo, with her ex-husband, Martinez, and she has been keeping both his and Nahla’s faces out of social media for a long time now. “I’ve fought really hard to protect their privacy, and I just want them to have their life and have it be theirs,” she explained.
However, the actress does reveal some funny stories about her children during her interviews. When she was on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon,” she spoke about Nahla’s bad hair day that forced her to cut off her hair.
Berry said when Nahla was 12, she demanded to start taking care of her own hair, but during the summer, she indulged in too many swim days in the home pool and got her hair tangled up. Since she had refused to let her mother brush it, she was shy to let her know of the big knot that formed at the back of her head.
So, Berry said, while they were doing homework, Nahla said, “Mom, I’m scared to tell you this, but, like, touch the back of my head.” The actress was confronted with a chunk of matted hair that could not even be brushed out, so they opted to shave some of it off.
But hopefully, Nahla’s hair disasters are behind her; the 15-year-old was spotted with her mother, and she’s grown taller than Berry. Nahla has taken after her model father, who is said to be over 6 feet.
Just like Berry fought hard for her daughter to always be reminded of all sides of her heritage, she’s passing down similar lessons to her kids as they grow up.
The actress wants her children to grow up to be strong. The mother of two always tells her daughter, “Use your voice. You have a right to be heard. You are loved and accepted just as you are. Only you define who you are.”
She wants her children to be true to themselves and not let anyone else tell them otherwise. Berry herself expressed that she had to choose how she identified.
The actress has a white mother and said she has always seen herself as a black woman; in fact, no one knew she had a white mother until she mentioned it.
This means her daughter is a mixture of many races. Her father is French Canadian, and her mother has an African-American father and a white mother. Therefore, she hoped for her daughter to grow up and choose how she identifies.
The mother of two knows the world will try to tell her who she is, but she hopes her daughter stands her ground and does not let any outside influence tell her who to be. “But whatever it is, I want her to feel good about who she is, where she comes from, embrace her little curly hair and everything about her,” Berry added.
Aside from the foundational teaching she’s trying to instill in her daughter, Berry said Nahla has grown up to be a “girly girl,” and having a mother who makes fragrances is a plus.
Berry said her daughter had tried all her fragrances and loved them all, so she is certain Nahla will grow up with an appreciation for perfume.
Besides loving perfume, she’s an artist at heart. Her father proudly posted some of Nahla’s paintings and captioned them, “It’s in her blood.” On top of the painting, she loves to explore with some guitar playing.
Aubry is a proud father sharing these special moments with his daughter. For International Daughter’s Day, he shared a sweet picture of Nahla lying on his chest and called it “paradise.”
