Halle Berry emotionally shared a little-known story about her childhood during an impassioned speech at DealBook Summit 2025.
During the Tuesday (December 3) event, the Academy Award-winning actress was a special guest and delivered an eighteen-minute speech with remarks about quality healthcare for menopausal women. While building up her speech on fighting for a cause, Berry briefly spoke on a time when she had to fight against bullies.
"So, I know you're all looking at me and you're saying, why? Why me? Why am I standing up here having this talk? And why am I fighting? Why am I fighting?Well, I think I am singularly built to fight, especially this fight. And I've been training for this fight my whole life," Berry said.
There's something that I know you don't know about me, but when I was growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, I was very much bullied," she continued. "I got into so many fights and sometimes I gave as good as I got, but most of the time I got beat up."
Berry shared a traumatic experience when she was viciously beaten by a "gang of girls," particularly one who was in the sixth grade and six-foot tall.
"I got into so many fights and sometimes I gave as good as I got, but most of the time I got beat up," the Bruised actress recalled. "And so one day I knew I was going to get jumped by a gang of girls. And I knew that because they found me in the hallway. They cornered me and they said, 'Girl, we going to beat your ass after school. You better not get off that bus.' So it was evident what was going to happen."
Berry still got off the bus when it arrived down the street from her home, but it was then that the group, consisting of five girls and three boys, descended upon her.
"And I kept my head and my eyes to the ground because I knew that first blow was coming," Berry continued. "I just didn't know when it was coming, but I knew it was coming. And then all of a sudden, I felt a super-sized fist. Bam. And I did the wiggle down. I was out. I hit the ground."
While Berry was on the ground, her shirt was ripped off, exposing her "little breast buds to the boys."
"And then I knew in this moment, Oh, that's why those boys got off this bus. They're part of it," Berry said. "While I was down there, they ruthlessly kicked me and kicked me and kicked me and kicked me and kicked me 'til I found myself in the sewer."
The future acting star was left to pick herself up while the group walked away and laughed.
"But I was humiliated because I had allowed myself to be treated this way. I made the choice to accept it. I didn't tell anybody when they told me they were going to beat the shit out of me," Berry tearfully said. "I just said, 'Okay, I deserve it. I guess I'm just going to take it. I have no choice.' But as I was walking home, I said, 'No, I am never ever never I'm never going to allow this to happen to me again. And I am never not going to stand up for myself. I will never allow myself to be a victim like that.'"
Berry, who was in the sixth grade at the time of the attack, vowed to "outthink" and "outwork" her opposition. "I would always be one step ahead of them and I would never again be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I would never allow fear to distract me from standing up for myself," she explained.
Berry's DealBook Summit 2025 speech was also when she slammed California Governor Gavin Newsom for his lack of urgency around the Menopause Care Equity Act, and his potential presidential bid.