LOS ANGELES – For several years, every time we had a press con with Halle Berry, someone always asked for updates about her efforts to have a baby.Finally, in our recent interview with the Oscar and Golden Globe winning actress in New York, she broke the happy news. She looked radiant and was more engaging than usual, no doubt buoyed that her dream finally came true. Halle wore boots and a black sheath that concealed her four-month pregnancy. In the drama “Things We Lost in the Fire,” Halle plays a widow who develops a bond with the best friend, a drug addict (Benicio Del Toro), of her late husband (David Duchovny). The actress thinks that playing a mother to two children, played by Micah Berry (no relation) and Alexis Llewellyn, set the right vibes to finally make her pregnant. She and her companion, Gabriel Aubry, a model whom she met in a Versace photo shoot, want their baby's sex to be a surprise. Congratulations on the happy news that you are having a baby. What's going on in your mind?
A million and one things are in my mind but I am happier than I've ever felt before. I wanted this for so long. I knew from playing a mother and having these two adorable, smart children in “Things We Lost in the Fire” that I was meant to be a mother. So it's no mystery that right after we finished the movie, pregnancy quickly started to manifest itself in my life. Has pregnancy been easy for you so far?
When you want something so bad, nothing could go wrong. It's the joy of my life. What extra precautions are you taking since you have diabetes?
There are lots of new treatments. My situation, especially being pregnant, is very much under control. I do what I always did. I always lived a clean life, ate healthy, stayed away from sugar and checked my blood sugar daily. I continue to do that and so far, I'm doing really well. I was diagnosed [with diabetes] when I was about 19 or 20. What beautiful discoveries are you experiencing?
It's an amazing feeling to know that a life is actually growing inside my body. The first time I saw the ultrasound image, I saw the little bones and the legs and I realize that that's part of me. That it's alive and it's in my care. This protective motherly instinct has taken over. I'm very protective of my belly area now. I'm very careful about where I walk and what I eat. I try to get enough rest. I exercise and keep my diabetes under control. The funny part is, everywhere I go, everybody gives me advice (laughter). It's all lovingly given but everybody has a different method of child rearing. I have to find my own way, take some advice that feels right and discard the rest. Motherhood doesn't come with a manual. This movie and “Perfect Stranger” were completed over a year ago. What else have you done?
I've been working. Working on?
Making a baby (laughter). What have you done besides that?
That has been the single most important thing in my life. I couldn't think of any work more meaningful and time-consuming. You spent a whole year doing that?
Believe it or not (laughter). At 40, that's what one has to do (laughter). Normally, when a woman is trying to get pregnant, it takes about a year. After making this movie, I knew for sure that it's what I wanted to happen. My boyfriend and I are always in different parts of the world, doing our individual work so I knew I had to put work aside and make motherhood my focus. You've talked before about growing up biracial and how difficult it was for you. You made the decision that you are black. How about your child?
I think the children will decide for themselves how and who they want to be in the world. I will inform them the best I can about what I know. You say “them”?
I hope to have more than one. It's wishful thinking. What can you tell us about Gabriel, the father of the baby?
He's wonderful. He will be a wonderful father to our child. Where will you raise the child?
LA is my home. I feel comfortable about raising my family there. We also spend a lot of time in New York and Montreal so the baby will grow up all over. We'll be on the road, too, because I make movies. To hit the road and experience other cultures at an early age in life is one of the best forms of education for any child. We want the child to learn different languages. There's no better way to do that than to expose them to the world. You said on Oprah Winfrey's show that you don't want to get married anymore. If your child or children ask you and Gabriel to get married, would you do it?
No, it's not up to my children whether or not I get married. I'm the mother (laughter). They are the children. Can you talk about filming that scene when your character, grieving and sleepless over the loss of her husband (David Duchovny), brings Benicio Del Toro's character to her bedroom so he can help her go to sleep?
That scene was particularly odd because we knew that to people who weren't dealing with grief, it may seem like an odd thing to ask. We tried to make it as real as possible because there was a question of whether people would believe that a woman would ask someone to do that. Once we thought it through, we realized that yes, a woman going through grief who hasn't slept in days might try just about anything. We tried to make it real and find some humor in it. And Benicio tugging at your ear the way David did to help you fall asleep'was that in the script or was that physical ad lib?
That's something we came up with on the day we did the scene. We thought it was missing something. There must have been some ritual that this couple had. We tried pulling lots of things (laughter) that day. That seemed to work the best. Benicio told us jokingly that he did that scene so he can say he has slept with Halle Berry.
Is that all he said about me (laughter)? What about our acting? He didn't mention our work together? No.
So just about the bed scene? Yes. I am sorry.
Men. Now is your chance for revenge (laughter)? What can you tell us about Benicio?
He was only sexy. Nothing else (laughter). If all he said was about our bed scene, all I have to say is, he was nothing but sexy (laughter). Have you lost anyone close to you?
I've lost my grandparents but I was never really close to them. Two of my dogs were killed by a coyote in my backyard. It was pretty devastating for me to return home and find their bodies strewn all over my backyard. The guilt that I felt for leaving them out and thinking it would be okay, not realizing the danger that was the closest I've come to dealing with loss. What things of sentimental value would upset you if they are lost?
They are family heirloom kind of things. One is a Bible that was from my great-great grandmother in England. It has been passed down for generations. Now, my mother has given it to me. That's one of the few pieces of history that we have as a family. It was signed by all the women who owned it before. The other thing is a lock of my mother's hair she gave to me a long time ago. She had this towhead white blonde hair and the lock was from her first hair cut when she was six years old. I put it in a frame with hairpins and stuff. I've called it angel hair. If I ever lost that, I would be devastated because that's another thing that I want to be able to pass down to my family members as heirloom. I will put that frame in my baby's nursery. Have we made big strides in accepting couples of different races on the screen?
We still have a long way to go. But I think a movie like this lets us know that we're getting where we want to go. I'm hopeful because I do see things changing. E-mail the columnist at rvnepales_5585@yahoo.com and read his blog, “The Nepales Report,” on www.inquirerbloggers.net/nepalesreport. | 
