Halle Berry is living her best life, sipping wine on a beautiful wrought iron balcony…all while unclothed. This seemingly harmless pastime has caused a lot of outrage online, leading some followers to share their thoughts on her activities directly with the actress. Berry didn’t shy away from clapping back at her haters.
Facing backlash
Berry posted a photo of her new hobby on Instagram at the beginning of April 2023 with the caption, “I do what I wanna do.” Followers were quick to flood her comment section with their thoughts – the good and the bad. Some went so far as to take to Twitter with their opinions. One particular user said, “Imagine being in your 50s, still posting [provocative photos] for attention in menopause when you should be chilling with the grandkids. Aging with dignity is no longer a thing.”
Many fans came to her defense, but Berry also showed that she had seen the message. In a tweet that she’s now deleted, she commented, “Did you guys know the heart of a shrimp is located in its head?” She clearly had no intentions of letting negative comments get her down, especially since this isn’t her first time posting similar photos to her social media. The 56-year-old is determined to embrace her aging and not let it stop her from loving her body.
Halle Berry on aging
Berry has been open about this in recent years, going in-depth during an AARP The Magazine interview in January 2022. She said, “We’re all going to get older. Our skin is going to shrivel up and we’re going to look different. I see things changing with my face and body, but I’ve never put all my eggs in that basket. I’ve always known that beauty is deeper than the physical body you’re walking around in.”
She continued, “I refuse to become someone who just tries to hold onto a youthful face and not embrace what’s most important about being beautiful — how you live your life, how you give back to others, how you connect to people, how you strengthen your mind, body, and soul and nourish yourself, how you give in a meaningful way of yourself. The most beautiful people have something radiating inside.”
She’s not the only one
Halle Berry isn’t the only actress who has been criticized for posing sans clothing. Jamie Lee Curtis opened up about posing topless for AARP The Magazine just shy of her 50th birthday in 2008. When the photo was released, most of the comments were extremely negative about the fact she posed without a shirt at ‘her age.’ This didn’t stop her from posing for a completely clothing-free shoot with New York Times when she was 63.
Supermodel Paulina Porizkova also received a lot of hate online in April 2022 for posting a photo of herself in a bathing suit. One particularly nasty commenter said she was “old and ugly” and “struggling” with her aging.
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Fans, in her defense, posted many photos of their own “old and ugly” bodies.