by
Tori
I don’t usually keep up with the latest celebrity news. However, I was browsing the Internet recently and this particular story caught my attention.
Actress and mother, Halle Berry and her ex, Gabriel Aubry have had several public disputes and disagreements about their 6-year-old daughter Nahla, who they share custody of, since their breakup in 2010. She recently took Aubry to court and obtained an order to ban Aubry from touching their daughter’s hair.
According to TMZ.com, Halle Berry is accusing her child’s father, a white Canadian man, of straightening and chemically lightening their daughter’s hair to make her look more ‘white’ and less African American. Berry believes the changes made to Nahla’s hair could lead to psychological damage if she later believes her biracial appearance isn’t good enough. Halle and her ex have a troubled history when it comes to race, with court documents revealing she has accused him of calling her a nigger, and encouraging their daughter to downplay her African American heritage.
After an intense debate in court between Gabriel Aubry and Halle’s attorney Steve Kolodny, the judge ordered that neither Halle nor Gabriel could change Nahla’s hair color or texture. So, essentially, little Miss Nahla is ‘going natural’.
Now, I am not a mother myself but after reading the story, I wondered what I would have done in her situation. To be honest, I would have done the exact same thing. For many mothers who have daughters, styling their daughters’ hair in cute pigtails or ponytails is the norm. So, it is quite saddening to see or hear of young children who are being involuntarily exposed to chemicals from coloring or straightening. I have even seen children as young as 2 or 3 years old whose hair was relaxed by a parent or guardian. In light of this I have to ask:
Did Halle Berry overreact or is she justified? What would you have done in her situation? Share your thoughts.
Sources:
96 Responses
Doesn’t Halle Berry straighten her hair?
YES, HALLE!!
No child of this age should be having their hair colored or straightened regardless.
Agree 100%
Umm Hallie has a white mom whom we never hear her talk about or see her with you and your child are biracial why not celebrate both races. any coloring or straightening of a childs hair at this age is not ok especially just to get back at his ex.
What the hell!? Who said the kid did not like the change? If so then fine. But it’s neither ‘Okay’ nor ‘appropriate’. Thinking of it if she wants to change her hair color of texture whoever parent gets her the tool’s (Hair dye ECT…) is in a legal way changing her ‘hair’ right? (It is cool and all but being a forced natural is so unfair. She need’s to get have rights too)
Have rights about straightening and coloring her hair at 6 years old? She is a child, when she is 18 she can have rights about that. No wonder the children I see nowadays are overrunning their parents. There certainly need to be boundaries, it is not up to the child.
You can tell home training and black people when you read ignorant comments like these. This is why there are so many celebrity kids and the children of celebrities living like “adults” by age 10. Halle knows how to protect her black child from the bigotry of others; including her father.
Exactly! I try to see the deeper meaning behind straightening my natural hair. White women aren’t asked to straighten their hair and White teenagers aren’t being sent home for wearing their hair natural.
It’s for these reasons I don’t. But it should be their daughter’s decision, not her White father’s.
This poor baby has two nutty parents, pray for her mental stability.
I think it’s absolutely crazy that people are taking her word for it with no real supporting evidence. I’m biracial with naturally dark chocolate brown hair but most of my childhood it was blonde because of the sun and chlorine from pools. A child having light hair doesn’t necessarily mean anything. Furthermore Halle Berry is the one who tried to use the “one drop rule” to claim that their daughter was more hers than his. That’s an incredibly racist thing to say and such statements really mess with the identities of biracial and mixed racial people. She said it in an interview. She didn’t care about her daughter’s identity then. She only cares about it when she can use it to attack her ex. She’s obviously incredibly spiteful. He may very well be racist but I’m going to have to hear it from someone who doesn’t have an agenda.
First off how do you know that Halle Berry is “incredibly spiteful”? Honest question- Have y’all heard some Tea about Ms. Berry that I don’t know?
In an article I read said they he took 6 year old Nahla to a salon, (no pool chlorine there) to have it straighten and lighten. I also do not think Halle Berry (who is Bi-racial herself.) is racist. No matter how “diluted” (for lack of a better word) little Nahla’s Blackness is she is still Black! To have someone shun or down play that is not OK, especially the girl’s Father! She deserves to have a connection with that part of her heritage/culture.
I personally, don’t think ANY child, black, white, or otherwise, under the age of 15 (Yep!) should be chemically treating/coloring their hair. My mom didn’t not let me and I would not let my future daughter either.
I actually find it extremely ignorant when people define people by color. With that said, how is it ok to call Nahla “black” or “white” or “biracial” In order for someone to be biracial there would have to be several races amongst humans. There is only one race, it is time to become more wise people. We are all one race, the Human Race period.
Try and tell the government that then about this “we are all one race”, because it was the oppressors YES i said it Oppressors who made that one drop rule. Do you think she would be called a white girl when they find out she has black in her?! hmm… do you think the police is going to refer her to white or biracial in AMERICA?… Don’t worry i’ll wait.
What on earth are you talking about? Do you personally know Halle Berry and the real truth about her personal life? It is crazy that you think that your opinion matters in this issue. Stop being judgmental and pay attention to your own life. No one is examining and criticizing your life in public that is why you may believe you have the audacity to make absolute statements about others. Well here is a reality check, what you think does not count in the lives of people that you don’t know, especially celebrities. You definitely have an agenda…being a nonsensical hater.
TMZ is CRAP! DOnt reguritate their false stories. I don’t believe this is true, Halle is half white herself, and I doubt her baby daddy would try to “whiten” his mostly white biracial daughter. They are stunning people who had a stunning, STUNNING baby girl, and I wish them the best. We never know what’s really happeing, but I say leave them alone and in privacy. WERK those glasses Halle!
Her father is racist. I believe he got with Halle because she was a major star. Her being wealthy helped him to overlook her blackness, UNTIL they got into arguments and that’s when he allowed her to know what he felt about her ‘blackness’.
He was somewhere with the little girl, when a person referred to her as being black. He screamed at the person to never call her that again. Do some google research on him. I don’t know how Halle missed it, unless he made a deliberate point to keep it hidden from her.
Some of the comments! Gheesh! In order for us to get others to get past their racism, we need to get past our own.
does color really have anything to do with this?! Putting harsh chemicals in a childs hair is just wrong no matter what the color of the child or the parent. Shes a baby, let her be.
Funny this post never mentioned Gabriel’s side of the story, he claimed the child’s hair was affected by the chlorine from the pool and exposure to the sun. At least tell the entire story before you incite the public.
Hey, I have a crazy idea… don’t have babies with white guys if you don’t want them to whiten your child.
Agreed. It’s not like he has genetic dominance–he may actually have repressed White Supremacist ideals to this extent. Entirely possible, considering I do believe he called her the n word. Interestingly, I wonder why she didn’t just “have a baby” with any old black guy she had dated prior, since she always said she wasn’t really interested in marriage and only in having a child.
I can’t stand Halle berry and her racist attitudes. Halle berry is bi racial herself and was brainwashed by her mother into believing the illegal one drop rule. Her daughter is only 1/4 African American . Halle berry constantly preaches how she is raising her daughter to only believe she is black which is racist and denies her father and herself. She said the world will see her as black so that’s what she should self identify with. Um not. U can see clear as day she is bi racial and it’s unfair for her to make that assumption for her daughter and make her choose. The father probably just wants to expose her to her majority racial background which is white. I don’t believe he touched that girls head. I saw her daughter pix from birth and she looks like she has the h same hair as she does now. Halle berry is a liar and I don’t believe her for a second. She’s a scorned woman who will stop at nothing to bash this girls father. Shameful
First, I want to say I understand Halle NOT wanting Nahla’s hair changed. But they couldn’t come to an agreement out of court?? Since when did having a relaxer or highlights equal looking white? Maybe he wanted the relaxer because he thought it was easier to work with. Men typically are not great with kids’ hair. I am not sure about the highlights, but lots of people get those, too. I don’t think my friends who have them are trying to look closer to white.And lots of white people have hair much curlier than Nahla’s in it’s natural state. It’s not as if Nahla has tight kinks or coils when her hair is in it’s natural state. This smells like an another attempt to smear this man. The tabloid press does the dirty work by reporting it. She was with this man for years (3 or 4) before they had a baby together, not one peep about how racist he was during that entire time. And if he were a racist the whole time, why would she go on to have a baby with him? Now that she wants him out of the picture completely, he’s a racist? Sorry, it doesn’t add up. Are people forgetting about all her other rants and demands regarding this custody situation? First, she wanted to take the child out of the country to live in France, far away from Gabriel. Then she got mad because she has to pay $16,000 a month in child support and tried to have it drastically reduced. A lot of rich men have to pay enormous child support when they have babies with women who not their financial equals. Most people don’t say anything about that. Nobody says “baby mama should get a job” or “be a woman and get a job.” But what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. I still like Halle, but I can see through her antics when it comes to Gabriel and this child. She needs to go somewhere and take two seats. I think she could’ve settled this outside of court. And if she HAD to go to court, she could’ve kept the comments about race out if it. She does not deserve mother of the year kudos for what was obviously a ploy. My two cents.
If halle didn’t want her baby to “look white” then she shouldn’t have had a baby with a “white man”!!!! She is just trying to make him look bad. Who goes to court for that? She just doesn’t want to admit that she is unstable and he is doing a great job as a parent.
The most effective way she can ‘reach’ her daughter and counteract the negative messages she is and will be receiving about black beauty, is to stop straightening her hair and let her daughter see her promoting her mother’s natural hair atop her head. Children watch what we do, even more than what we say. Lead by example Halle, and yes, stand up to racist messages from bigots.
This was all wry unsettling to read, I just have to ask Halle…WHAT DID YOU SEE IN THIS MAN IN THE FIRST PLACE?!?! But I’m happy to hear that neither of them can legally change her hair and she’s able to live and be herself. Hopefully the damage isn’t already done.
Yeah I never understand those small percentage of white men that marry and have sex with black women and then proceed to call them the N Word etc. I acutally had an aunt that married a man like that. I also had a friend whose husband told her she should keep her hair straight because he doesn’t like her curly afro hair. OMG.
My husband is white but he met me with my afro hair and only complements me. OMG.
Ain’t buying it. As many times as Halle berry has changed her hair and not gone natural, I can’t believe she’s concerned about her child’s identity. She’s bad at relationships and she’s using this as a way to humiliate her ex and turn public opinion against him. To take this to court is ridiculous. Mark this day on your calendar for when her marriage breaks up and she accuses him of doing something similar to their son.
She is lying
I do not believe anything Halle berry says. She will do anything to make this man look bad so she can get custody. She plays with her fans to side with her because of her popularity. After what she did to this man I do not trust a word she said. Im usually outraged when someone calls a person the N word but she will do anything to keep him from that little girl. That man lives that child to death and she is wrong ass hell!
So proud of Halle, my mom gave me an S-curl at 1 year old and she never let my hair Just Be. Yes I had a negative relationship with my hair and ultimately my culture until I began my natural hair journey at age 32 three years ago. Mommas stop trying to fix what’s not broke and educate yourself on how to care for the hair.
Wether you want to go into the race side of this or not. Using relaxer and hair dye on a child is toxic physically and mentally! Let the child grow healthy inside and out. Relaxer will melt metal, fast. Why put that on your kid. Let her learn about her own hair, learn to love what the universe put on her head and grow up making her own choices about if she wants to straighten it or not. Women have enough complexes without our fathers adding to them!
I agree that she is way too young to have her hair altered in any way. I’m glad Halle is standing up for what is right. Let the child grow up and have a say in how she wants to wear her hair.
For all of those who are blaiming that Nahla isn’t biracial…how do you know what percentages she inherited? Genetic inheritance is kind of random, and there’s a chance that Halle didn’t quite get an even 50-50, and thus passed on that uneven inheritance to her daughter.
For instance, say Halle’s an even 60% Black, 40% White (she’s probably not as an American, but whatever). Gabriel Audrey’s French Canadian. right? Those people reproduced with a lot of different cultures, so let’s say he’s only working with 90% White and 10% other. With this kind of split, Nahla could technically be 50% Black, 40% White, and 10% other, if she inherits only Halle’s Black genes.
Let’s flip Halle’s percentage. Let’s say she’s 40% Black and 60% White. Gabriel remains the same. Nahla’s still likely to be 30% Black, 60% White, and 10% Other.
At what percentage is one able to claim Blackness? When does one lose their claim to Blackness? Is it fair to disown someone from an entire culture when they display phenotypical traits of that culture?
*claiming
A lot of people forget or are simply unaware that there are a many Europeans who have African Ancestry so there is really no telling what percentage of African or European genes someone has just by looking at them. Halle Berry has every right to protect her daughters welfare. This man needs to stop allowing his complexes to potentially rub off on his little girl.
I think that what she did is very justified, I would’ve done the exact same thing. We should encourage kids to love themselves, not to change their hair texture and making them think that they are not good enough. In terms of hair color, she is wayy too young so that her dad would color her hair, and on top of that, it was without her permission!! How infuriating.
as a side note, i’m a little confused by the wording. halle’s daughter is not biracial, she’s at least 3 quarters white. so to me, nahla *is* white. on that note, i find it strange that a man would take any interest in putting chemicals in his little child’s hair. that’s usually not something men do, so i find that odd all by itself. with regards to him trying to cover up the girl’s “african american heritage”, i see that part as so relatively minute that i find it laughable that that was even brought up as an issue. i’m sure the man sees his daughter as white, and this whole issue should simply be left as “to put chemicals/heat in a child’s hair or not?” and on those grounds, i’m firmly on the side of the ever-adamant no, that chemicals and heat should never be put near the heads of children under the age of ten (i might make an exception for blow dryers, but i’m biased).
Biracial just means 2 races. Not half one and half another
*Sigh*
Let’s leave this on TMZ and ET where it belongs.
Our time would be much better served if we focused on ways to maintain the momentum of the Natural Hair Movement, so that it can evolve from a movement into a permanent way of life to be embraced by all women for generations to come. This “news” is simply one of the many signs that it is time for, not simply a movement, but an entire cognitive and cultural shift in the way we think of ourselves, the way we present ourselves, the way we allow ourselves to be treated, and the ways in which we allow ourselves to be represented.
Merçi!
We should ignore one of the stories that is relevant to the struggle because it belongs to a person with celebrity status? If this were your family member or friend would it be ok to pick up the baton then? Smh – don’t lose sight of the issue because it doesn’t come in the package your prefer. This is an assault on that child as well as an afront to the more global issue of natural beauty.
What a horrible place for a mother to be in. Go to court?! But if that’s what you have to do in order to communicate to your child that they are beautiful the way they are then that’s what you gotta do. Good for Halle. My parents have straightened my hair without chemicals start at 4 or 5 years old and it affected my self esteem quite a bit. I wish parents were more aware of how things, even the little things, affect their child in the long run. I’m in my 30s and wear my hair curly now and they don’t like it. But their problem, not mine.
Her daughter is too young for highlights. I guess she went to the courts because her and her ex’s co-parenting relationship was really bad..explosive really. It must be awful to have to co-parent with someone you can’t even talk to.
I juste wanted tips on growing long natural hair as a black girl. Ow man!
I just wanted tips on growing long natural hair as a black girl. Ow man!
And btw, that biracial 6 year old is gorgeous!
The father had no right to chemically treat/alter the daughters hair. Even if he weren’t white and being accused of basically being racist, he still shouldn’t treat or alter their child’s hair without the mothers consent. My daughter and myself are natural and her father lets me make all the decisions when it comes to our daughters hair because and simple, that decision lies solely with me as I am the one who does her hair everyday (or every few days).
Some of You guys are so ridiculous why does it matter what percentage of african american she is? The point is this was wrong on the fathers part. Plus its not like halle berry chose to be the race that she is and im sure she didnt go out specifically looking for a white man to be with love is love no matter the race. Wake up people its 2014
The only thing that confuses me is if you look at pictures of her hair it never looks chemically straightened. I find it hard to believe that as much as the paps stalk this family, they have never caught a picture of the child with hair that looked chemically straightened. We are all women of color, we know what chemically straightened hair looks like and on a texture as loose as Nahla’s it would more than likely be almost bone straight which it isn’t. Now the bleaching could honestly be anything. It states no where that the court tested Nahla’s hair it says Halle says she did. I am a woman of mixed race with hair that bleaches itself due to chlorine and sun in the summer due to living in a subtropical climate. This is a child from a upper class family who lives in always sunny southern California. There is probably a pool at every resident she visits, not to mention that every time we see a picture of her she seems to be on a big family outing (zoos, water parks, amusement parks, etc..) I’m not saying he did nothing to alter the child’s hair, but I will say that the few facts we have don’t seem to add up to permanent straightening and chemical bleaching looks very similar under a microscope whether it is from sun and chlorine or a man made chemical, all of them add stress and strip protein from the hair. All this being said, they are both psychopaths who probably shouldn’t have had a child.
Good for her, she distanced herself away from black man. As if they were the cause of her filed relationships. Now she wants sympathy because of her failed relationship with a white supremacist? That Negro bed-wench is on her own and black people should distance themselves from this drama queen.
Wow…btw Halle is a product of a mixed-race relationship herself.
It’s not about her being bi-racial. She actually has taken the time in the past to specifically call out black men–and now it appears that you can find a terrible person in all races. I don’t have much sympathy for her either, considering those past comments she made.
wow
What the hell is wrong with you? That comment is just stupid.
She was the cause of most of her relationships. I doubt the one she is in now will last either.
@Selwyn – What on earth are you talking about? That’s ridiculous. She has a right to be with whomever she pleases (we all do) and if she did “distance herself” that is her perogative. It doesn’t appear as if she’s looking for any sympathy. She’s merely being a Mother and protecting her child. Remember we all have failed relationships from time-to-time. BTW: Halle’s father was African-American. Halle’s mother, who is Caucasian, has Dutch, English, German, and remote Irish ancestry. Halle’s maternal grandfather was American-born, and Halle’s maternal grandmother was English, born in Sawley, Derbyshire. Now are you going to continue saying that she “distanced herself?”……….From Who?
I really don’t think that Gabriel Aubry is a white supermacist or a racist for that matter. Someone from any aryan racist affiliation would never even have the audacity to speak or even have the audacity to ask a black women out on a date and it would be unthinkable for them to have a romantic intimate relationship with one of us AND have a child.
UNPOPULAR OPINION ALERT
Halle is a drama queen. Aubrey is a sleazy narcissist. They deserve each other. The only person I pity in this situation is Nahla, because we can’t choose our parents.
With that said, I agree with Halle on keeping chemicals out of her child’s hair. It’s dangerous physically and damaging to her self-esteem. That applies to ANY child. However, she can miss me with that “he’s trying to make her more white” mess. Halle is 1/2 white. Her baby daddy is white. That makes Nahla 3/4 white. Guess what, she IS more white than black. If Halle was so concerned about the “blackness” of her progeny, then why go out and PURPOSELY get knocked up by a white man?
I also don’t believe her claims that Aubrey is suddenly racist. His tendencies were there all the time, she just overlooked them long enough to accomplish her mission- have a baby. Once Aubrey refused to go away quietly and let her keep Nahla all to herself, she unleashed the rest of her crazy and it’s been on ever since.
Again, I agree with her about not wanting chemicals in Nahla’s hair, but this situation could, and SHOULD, have been handled without going to court. Halle and Aubrey stay doing the most. Poor Nahla… 🙁
with all the sperm banks in the world…and all the money in the world…oh well
@Rubio,
EXACTLY. *smh*
Um…sperm banks are notorious for mixing samples up and exaggerating donor attributes. This may happen only a relatively low percentage of the time, but even so, the only way to be 100% certain who your child’s father is would be to do things the old-fashioned way (oh and at least semi-monogamously).
@MommieDearest
Thank you
Not to mention if she is so adamant about the “psychological damage” because of the fractional black that’s in her white child(yes the girl is white) she could lead by example at least and not straighten her own hair. Hypocrisy 101.
I’ve never understood how some parents of mixed children can be so adamant about asserting the blackness of their children. So oxymoronic. Doesn’t having a child of mixed racial heritage symbolize on some level a willingness to BLEND racially. So why all of this talk about “preserving” blackness. It makes me question the motivation for mixing in the first place. The truth is that the one drop rule is having less and less relevance societally, so it can’t be because the child will be perceived as black anyway. Halle’s daughter’s african roots are not very obvious.
Nahla’s daddy could’ve as easily been Michael Ealy (if he wasn’t just the rebound guy) had she met Aubry first.
This was really so sad what kind of message is this so-called father giving this baby, that the creator made a mistake and he needs to fix it…Halle absolutely did the right thing.
Is this turning into a gossip website?
Kelly, your question -intentionally or not – is ill-informed. But we see what we want to see – here we were presented with a very real story of a mother’s struggle to protect her daughters’ right to the natural state of her hair – both article and subsequent question are highly relevant to a website dedicated to natural hair care btw. Unfortunate that you chose to only see the who and not the what or why.
Even if we remove the race factor, what man in their right mind would put highlights in their daughter’s hair without the knowledge, advise, or consent of the mother? Even if the mother consented, what is to be gained from highlighting the hair or a 6 year old? It serves no practical purpose whatsoever.
Laurel, that’s actually the wrong way to react to a narcissistic person…to keep it on the downlow. They should have their dirt blasted to the four corners. It’s the only think that keeps them somewhat in check, for people to see what monsters they are.
Carlee, some non African men date or marry us because they watched too much television and believe the stereotypes they learn from shows and music videos. They hate women in general, but choose us because they think we will be more docile or willing to do sexually freaky things than the women of their own ethnicity.
When they learn that we have our own mind and aren’t going to take their mess, that’s when their real face comes out. It’s a horrible situation for a woman to find herself in. That man doesn’t know how lucky he is to be alive, or that his child still has a mother at all. I’ve seen cases where the woman who was the target of this sort of bait and switch tactic, freak out and kill or attempt to kill the man and/or herself.
Guys who do this are usually textbook borderline/narcissists, and they use the court system and the child to continue to torture the mother. They don’t realize how crazy they are.
One may ask how she could have gotten mixed up with such a guy in the first place, but this type of person is a good liar and idealizes their victim until she doesn’t give him what he wants. That’s when the torture begins.
I disagree about the stereotype about black women being docile…that is not black woman stereotype that belongs to Asian women…and sexually freaky things…no just look at porn..90% is white women…and you don’t need porn…women of color know white women are the trashiest, freakish women out there…well that is the stereotype…
I agree with a good portion of your comment. Their are TONS of stereotypes about Black women not necessarily being “docile,” but certainly there’s one of us being easy to manipulate. The media makes us out to be either overt or covert video vixens, baby mamas, WIC collectors who have no ambition beyond getting knocked up by an athlete or drug dealer; then once we are sufficiently dehumanized it will be easy to get us to do basically anything to regain our humanity.
@Rubio since Black people only make up a small percentage of the US population, it stands to reason that other women would out-represent us in such a spurious industry. However, I’m not sure how much porn you’ve actually watched or how much you know about the industry since even at the yearly awards shows and conventions meant to celebrate “tasteful/artistic” pornography, Black women (people of color in general) are noticeably absent. I don’t believe porn is porn is porn. If the White woman’s sterotypical part is the “desperate housewife” and the Black woman’s stereotypical part is the “hood rat/chicken head,” how can you not see what effect those classifications could have on the typical male pornwatcher’s subconscious?
Isn’t Halle Berry half white? Their child is only a quarter black; why are we claiming her?
We are claiming her because according to them, one drop of black blood makes one black, and I highly doubt that white people will claim her.
Because we live by the “One Drop” rule?
“Why are we claiming her?” Who the hell is WE? Who are WE to decide if someone is black enough to be considered black??? A quarter black is still black. It may be less but you can’t take that away from her. IGNORANT!
Sooooo…..
How come the Irish are not claiming Dr. MLK?
Home come the collective “white” isn’t claiming Rosa Parks? Frederick Douglas? Don Cheadle? Nas? Tina Turner? Malcom X? Viola Davis? Oprah Winfrey? Have you noticed how Dr. Henry Louis Gates shouts from the mountain top that he’s not just West-African “Black”, but 50% Irish? Are the Irish claiming him? Hell naw. Most of these folks LOOK BLACK.
A quarter black IS NOT black, especially considering the way the child looks. Y’all can contribute to the death (erasure) of Black women but I will not. I’m remember when Halle came on the scene, err’body jumping, shouting, and hollering over a plain jane bi-racial woman. Plain as plain tofu. SMH.
I sooooooooooooooooo agree with you, people on this thread are talking like Nahla looks Black with Kinky hair. They are many White people with Nahla hair and looks. For crying out loud no one will consider this child Black in the future. If Nahla was featured as a beauty icon in this very same website people would have a fit.
@Rica
A quarter black is still black.
Definitely. Look at how black this child is…the African roots are quite obvious
http://cdn02.cdn.justjared.com/wp-content/uploads/headlines/2014/01/robin-thicke-blurred-lines-was-best-selling-single-of-2013.jpg
-_-
Someone should be more than 50% black before I consider them “black”. Halle Berry ain’t black in my eyes. She’s bi-racial. She’s got just as much black in her as she does white, and I don’t see any whites claiming her like the black community likes to claim half breeds. I don’t have anything against mixed folk, I just know not to call them black because… they aren’t.
she absolutely did the correct thing. I would have used the situation to petition the court to limit that freaks connection with the child. He obviously has a problem
This is way too complex an issue to just hop on the bandwagon and start calling someone a racist. I’m biracial and neither one of my parents knew what to do with my hair so I imagine Aubrey has no idea what he is doing and made a bad choice. I do agree that he should have talked to Halle Berry about it first. Basically, I think these are two parents in the public eye who are having a disagreement that we don’t have every side off.
Serious question: If the issue is trying to make someone “look white,” why doesn’t Halle wear her natural hair?
I think it’s important to consider their vast financial resources. Nahla has stylists and nannies. It’s not like her parents struggle to fit everyday basic care of their child (feeding, bathing, grooming, etc) in the midst of their career like some average middle class family. Aubry TOOK HER TO SALONS to be PROFESSIONALLY serviced. It would be just as easy for him to have taken her to a stylist who can style her curls Ouidad/Devachan style.
Secondly, Halle has worn her hair in ALL different kinds of ways, including long and short curly styles. The straight pixie has been her signature for a while now. There is a HUGE difference between a grown woman (who is an actress by profession) changing up her naturally straight hair however she wants because she CHOOSES to; and a father FORCING the choice on his daughter (or allowing his child to make such a potentially damaging choice).
You make some good points, however, Halle’s hair isn’t naturally straight.
But Halle is a consenting adult and her daughter is being forced to make these changes. Physically altering ones appearance as a grown up has fewer psychological repercussions than as a child.
Wow..What in the world? This is just strange because how could Halle Berry not notice something off about this man before having a child with him? Permanently altering the texture and color of a child’s hair?? Wow! Very sad that this child has to be the victim of all this madness.
We should stay out of family issues/matters, Halle Berry went to court to seek reprieve not the public.
Wow I can’t believe this situation is even happening. What kind of racist monster would do this to their child? Why even have sex with a black women if you hate black people so much. Crazy! Good on Halle Berry for protecting her child. I know that woman is fierce and her daughter has a strong mother to look up to.
I’m so surprised at how angry this has made me. Yes, Gabriel Aubry is the child’s father, but he doesn’t share the experience of being a women of black origin. Halle Berry is right, in my opinion, when it comes to telling him to keep his hands out of that child’s hair!
Halle Berry did the damn right choice. How can a white man who hate the biracial culture of her own daughter is entitled to make some hard decision?
Too bad this situation had to be held on court. But i don’t get why in first place she had a girl with a man who hates black people!!
This is such a complex and layered situation. We see very clearly as we have in the past that instillation of self-doubt and hate regarding one’s natural self starts early. Also, we learn that being with a black woman does not immunize you from attempting to erase your child’s blackness. Maybe he thinks it’ll be easier for her, but he’ll just load her with baggage. I would encourage any parent to learn their child’s hair just as they do their own. Commit to the level of care your child requires just like anything else. What is more convenient for you makes your child feel like a burden. It’s not about you.
On another note, while we don’t know the details of their relationship, let’s just say this: keep the children out of it. Don’t use them to make a point or relay your contempt.
I would have done the exact same thing. The guy is openly racist.
First things first, Nala’s african print dress is just too cute. Do they make it in a bigger size?
O/T I was at church recently and there’s this little girl there. She was shaved bald which was unusual to see. So I asked her dad why they had shaved her hair. Only to find her mother took her to a salon to get her hair permed and the relaxer burnt her bald in a lot of places so they had no choice but to cut the rest of her hair. When I looked closer I could see the burns. Her hair was just starting to grow back but the burnt parts were still bald. She’s only four years old! FOUR!
So while I usually think Halle can be petty when it come to her ex, in this case I think her reaction is warranted. Even though Nahla is supposed to be more White than Black, her black roots are prominent and need to be acknowledged accordingly.
If they did make it in a bigger size, its not like you could afford it
It’s really sad how normal a story like yours is. Honestly, it bothers me so much because I was also forced into relaxers and weaves from a very young age, and it does nothing but damage. And because it starts at such a young age, it is the norm, the only choice there is. I’m 20 and my edges are weak from years of torment, and it didn’t have to be this way.
It’s funny that even now that I’m natural, my mom still tells me what to do with my hair when she has no idea how to take care of natural hair. She only knows how to hide and destroy it.
I don’t think she overreacted. If it was my daughter and the circumstances were the same, I would have done the same.