Back in the September issue of Vogue, Halle Berry used the platform of a cover interview in one of the biggest magazine issues of the year to spotlight her work withthe Jenesse Center, a non-profit that helps abused and battered women who have left their abusive situations. Halle has been working with the Jenesse Center for a decade, and you can just tell that this is one of her great passions. Anyway, CNN continues to do their spotlight on “CNN Heroes” and they decided to do a sit-down interview with Halle, to profile her work with the Jenesse Center, and why she was drawn to this work:

Halle Berry has been busy dazzling photogs on the red carpet recently, hamming it up for a new Farrelly Brothers comedy, and enjoying a new romance with Olivier Martinez — but she says that despite her glamorous adulthood, she’s still healing from the trauma she witnessed in her childhood home.

The Oscar winner, 44, opened up to CNN recently about what motivates her to work with an organization that supports women who escape violent homes.

Berry recalls being terrified that her violent dad, who physically abused her mom, would turn on her, adding, “I think I’ve spent my adult life dealing with the sense of low self-esteem that sort of implanted in me. Somehow I felt not worthy.” As incredible as that sounds coming from a highly paid, highly photogenic movie star, she explains, “Before I’m ‘Halle Berry,’ I’m little Halle….a little girl growing in this environment that damaged me…I’ve spent my adult life trying to really heal from that.”

Of her dedication to supporting others trying to escape domestic violence — including frequent volunteering at Jenesse Center, a Los Angeles shelter, and helping to renovate apartments for women leaving abusive relationships — she says, “I have a spot in my soul that understands the devastation that this causes a family.”

[From PopEater]

CB and I were just talking about this, and whether Halle comes across as “authentic” when talking about the abuse in her past and how it has affected her as an adult. Personally, I have enormous respect for Halle’s work with the Jenesse Center, and I think it’s great that she’s turning her own troubled past into something positive for other women, and it’s obviously something she’s enormously passionate about. BUT – the chick is still really screwed up about men. Even Oprah has called it a day on trying to help Halle through her issues.

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