Halle Berry Reveals ‘Catwoman’ Backlash Hit Harder Due to Her Race: “Growing up as a Black woman, that’s two strikes against you”

Halle Berry is well-known for her superhero roles, having portrayed Storm, one of Marvel’s iconic mutants, in the Fox X-Men series. She also took on a role in the DC universe as Catwoman in a film of the same name.

Although Catwoman is a prominent character in the Batman universe and the idea of a standalone film seemed promising, the movie’s poor reception nearly derailed Berry’s career.

Released over 20 years ago, Catwoman faced widespread criticism and underperformed at the box office, earning $82 million against its $100 million budget. The film garnered seven Golden Raspberry Award nominations and won four, including Worst Picture, Worst Actress (Halle Berry), Worst Director, and Worst Screenplay.

The movie frequently appears on lists of the worst superhero films and continues to be a source of memes.

In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Halle Berry reflected on the harsh criticism she faced at the film’s release and continues to face, despite a new generation of viewers rediscovering it with a fresh perspective. Berry also revealed that the backlash felt particularly painful due to her race, noting that she has had to confront such challenges throughout her life.

I didn’t love [the backlash]. Being a Black woman, I’m used to carrying negativity on my back, fighting, being a fish swimming upstream by myself. I’m used to defying stereotypes and making a way out of no way. I didn’t want to be casual about it, but I went and collected that Razzie, laughed at myself, and kept it moving. It didn’t derail me because I’ve fought as a Black woman my whole life. A little bad publicity about a movie? I didn’t love it, but it wasn’t going to stop my world or derail me from doing what I love to do.

Growing up as a Black woman, that’s two strikes against you. There’s an innate resilience. I hated that it got all put on me, and I hate that, to this day, it’s my failure. I know I can carry it. I still have a career 20 years later. It’s just part of my story. That’s okay, and I’ve carried other failures and successes. People have opinions, and sometimes they’re louder than others. You just have to keep moving.

Berry also talked about the Razzies, acknowledging that while she wasn’t entirely dismissive of the movie, she had to project a sense of indifference to it. Despite having a certain fondness for the film, she played down its significance in public.

The studio knew what I was going to do at the Razzies. I told them I wanted to take the piss out of it and laugh at it. I don’t think it’s a God-awful film, but I was at the Razzies, so I had to do what they do; I s— on it because they s— on it! I wrote [that speech] within an inch of my life. I put a lot of thought into how I could do it in a fun way and let everyone know I didn’t take it that seriously. You can never take away my Oscar, no matter how bad you bash me! If you say I earned it, I’ll take this, too.

To be fair, “Catwoman” is widely regarded as a poorly made film, and its shortcomings likely had nothing to do with race or personal issues—it was simply a poorly executed and overacted project. As Berry recently noted, critics panned the movie, but younger audiences are now rediscovering it with a newfound appreciation, much like how fans have recently started to re-evaluate the Star Wars prequel trilogy and Hayden Christensen after years of criticism.

What are your thoughts? Share them in the comments below!