Halle Berry battels ex over daughter's race

Posted 02/08/2011 by Kristina Lopez

Halle Berry gets candid in a new interview with Ebony magazine for the March issue about her daughter's race and the actress said that in her eyes, "I feel like she's black."

The comments come in the middle of a storm of press headlines about the messy custody battle between Berry and ex Gabriel Aubry over their two-year-old daughter Nahla. Berry, whose father is African-American and mother is white, said that Nahla will eventually have to figure out her identity for herself one day.

"What I think is that that's something she's going to have to decide," she reportedly told the magazine, according to E! News. "I'm not going to put a label on it. I had to decide for myself, and that's what she's going to have to decide -- how she identifies herself in the world. And I think, largely, that will be based on how the world identifies her. That's how I identified myself."

The actress added, "I'm black and I'm her mother, and I believe in the one-drop theory."

Berry is referencing a rule used during the segregation era that classified a person with any African ancestry as black.

Aubry, who is French Canadian, has been recently accused by tabloid reports of hurling racial slurs at Berry. However, Berry has never confirmed the reports. A spokesperson for Aubry released a statement to Access Hollywood that called the different allegations surfacing in the press about him "untrue and irresponsible."

The Academy Award-winning actress talked about her own struggle with identity saying, "I identify as a black woman, but I've always had to embrace my mother and the White side of who I am, too. By choosing, I've often [wondered], 'Well, would that make her feel like I'm invalidating her by choosing to identify more with the black side of myself?'"

Berry, who recently dropped out of her role in "New Years Eve" to deal with her on-going custody battle, also tells the magazine, "Being a mother is probably the most important thing in my life right now." She added, "Career is important, but nothing really supersedes my role as a mother. That's the most important thing I'm going to do in this life at this point."

After Berry dropped out, Katherine Heigl was hired to take over Berry's role in the star-studded ensemble film.

Aubry's fight with Berry over Nahla began a month after former model Aubrey filed court papers in Los Angeles Superior Court to establish paternity and secure joint legal custody on December 30.

Last week Berry's spokesperson released a statement to People magazine that read: "Halle has serious concerns for her daughter's well-being while in the care of her father for any extended period of time and is prepared to take all necessary steps to protect her. She has attempted to resolve these custody issues amicably with her daughter's father, Gabriel Aubry, directly, but given his lack of cooperation, Halle has no choice but to seek swift judicial intervention."