It was a big night for Halle Berry as she was honored with the sixth annual SeeHer Award at the 2022 Critics Choice Awards in Los Angeles.
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The Bruised actress made a stunning appearance on the red carpet earlier in the evening, wowing in a velvet power suit with a white corset alongside her boyfriend, Van Hunt. Halle also debuted a brand new hairdo, rocking short, silvery grey locks instead of the long, honey blonde hair she has been wearing of late.
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During her acceptance speech, Halle delivered powerful words to the star-studded crowd and even brought a tear to Lady Gaga's eyes.
Speaking of her directorial debut, Bruised, Halle said: "The first time I read the script I realized it wasn't written for someone who looks like me so I went to the producers and said, 'Why not me? Why can't it be a black woman?'
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"I knew the power of this story, if you had a hard time watching that story, imagine being that woman living that story. We need to see each other's realities no matter how uncomfortable it makes us."
© Photo: Getty ImagesHalle Berry turned heads alongside boyfriend Van Hunt
She added: "I am so grateful to be standing and living in this moment where women are standing up and telling our own stories. If we deny our complexity, we deny our humanity."
Addressing the "little girls watching", Halle – who is the first and still the only black woman to win an Academy Award for Best Actress – said: "We love you; we see you. You deserve everything in this world."
Halle was honored with the SeeHer Award
The SeeHer award honors a woman who advocates for gender equality, portrays characters with authenticity, defies stereotypes and pushes boundaries.
SeeHer is the leading global movement for accurate portrayals of women and girls in media. Founded in 2015 by the Association of National Advertisers and the Female Quotient, SeeHer is a global collective of marketers, media organizations and industry influencers committed to creating gender-bias-free advertising and media. Recent recipients include Zendaya, Gal Gadot and Viola Davis.
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