Halle Berry encourages women to make their own choices and not get coerced into having babies in 30s

Halle Berry is asking women to take the pressure off themselves. She took to the stage at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, and the 56-year-old actress told Women's Health about the advice she follows and that she wants to share it with other women. "I'm solidly in my womanhood. I finally realize what I have to say is valuable, even if no one else agrees," she told the outlet. "Here’s what I tell women: Own wherever you are." She also said that if "you're in your mid-thirties, don't be bogged down by the idea that you have to have children by a certain age."

"You decide. And if you want to have children, you don't have to be defined by those old ideologies that this is what women ‘have’ to do," the actress opined. She added, "Community is the entrée into understanding. We're all going through it. And we learn from one another when we talk about it, become curious, and share what we're going through with each other. We educate each other and we give each other ideas. We understand how to manage things better."

She also discussed notions that society has about menopause, "The most important thing about owning your sexuality as a woman is accepting the station you're at - and embracing that. And I say that because I'm smack dab in the middle of menopause. And I am challenging everything I thought I knew about menopause. Things like: 'Your life is over,' 'You are disposable,' 'Society no longer has a place for you,' 'You should retire,' 'You should pack it up.'"

She added, "I'm my best self now that I reached 56 years old. I have the most to offer. I have zero blanks to give anymore. I'm solidly in my womanhood. I finally realize what I have to say is valuable, even if no one else agrees." Berry has two children, Maceo, 9, and a daughter Nahla, 15. "Do it only if you want to, because you give up much of your personal life to growing those other lives," she said. "And maybe you're not a woman who wants to do that. No harm, no foul, no judgment." She became a mom to her daughter in March 2008, when she had Nahla with her ex boyfriend Gabriel Aubry. As for her son, Maceo-Robert Martinez, she shares him with her ex-husband Olivier Martinez.

Berry had said in an interview with In Style that she "loved being pregnant" and "probably would have had five children" if she had "started earlier." She added, "Or if I hadn't been busy trying to make movies, I would have been the perfect surrogate." The actress also won the People's Icon Award at the 2021 People's Choice Awards, she thanked her kids in her speech. "My two little kids, they have to lose so much time with their mommy because I get to go work and do what I love, so thank you Nahla, thank you Maceo — I hope you find something in life that you can love and you can do with as much vigor and as much zest as I do what I do. I love you guys," she said.