Halle Berry accepted the SeeHer award at Critics Choice Awards; Credits: Variety

Halley Berry had a great time with her films this past year and recently bagged another award to her honor. The actress accepted her SeeHer Award by Critics Choice Awards and delivered a very rousing speech. 

The Oscar winner was awarded the honor for her active role in advocating gender equality and playing her characters as her most authentic self. The award is also given for pushing down stereotypes and breaking boundaries. 

Hence, the actress began by sharing her appreciation for Issa Rae, from Insecure, who presented the award to Halley Berry. Berry did not hold back as she named Rae as her source of inspiration and that she motivated her as she reached the event. 

Issa Rae has been a leading voice representing women of color on television and it helped pave the way for others to come. Berry gushed that Rae virtually changed the landscape for black women and that she thanks her from her "heart" for that. 

The actress continued to explain that when she was first approached for the role as the star and the director of Bruised. The script was written keeping in mind a "disgraced female MMA fighter." However, it was not specifically made for a person who looked like her. 

She directly approached the producers asking why it couldn't be her who gets to play the character and why the character can't be molded after her as a Black woman. The producers were quick to agree. 

The same happened when she posed herself as the director for the film, wanting to help the movie. The producers were open to her suggestion and she bagged the part for herself. 

Yet, not many people were ready to see women in a violent, fighting role, which has become more than the norm for male action sequences. A viewer shared when talking to Berry that he was not comfortable seeing a woman fighting and becoming "battered and beaten"

That was all the more push for Berry to decide that there needed to be a film that showed women in tougher spots. It opened her up to see a character who could take a beating but go through those horrendous circumstances.

It is so unnerving to see a woman suffer through that ordeal on a film screen. But even more so when there is a woman suffering through the same bleak reality. The story brings the audience so much closer to experiencing her tale in its raw form shared by Berry. 

The story is hence a bridge to help people get on the other side and look at people who spend their lives in worlds that are not as pleasant. The idea was also critical to debunk the theory that she could win if she was a white man. 

But because she was not, it did not work out for her, and she did not win. Berry acknowledged the fact that not being a white man is why she couldn't score the win.

But it makes it all the more important to bring the story upfront and let people know that women are getting to have their say, explained Berry. They are getting to live in the present with strong stories to share, be powerful, and command the space for them. 

It makes it so much more of a marvel as women, especially of color, share their stories as they write films, produce, direct them and present them in roles no one can forget. They get to showcase the intense struggles of their kind through their authentic portrayals. 

She also shared that it is not that they are "confident" but also "scared" at the same time to bring these stories to the front. She exclaimed that they are all "vulnerable" and "strong" at the same time. 

She says that we are all "beautiful" yet "bruised" and that women get to be "everything and all of that." It is a collective experience that women everywhere get to live together. 

All of it does not make sharing our experiences an easier job, yet it is a task worth doing, retelling every tale of every magnitude. The stories can be difficult and uncomfortable to tell, but necessary to share. They can give others the hope to fight through situations just like these, take hope and come out of their circumstances. 

The actress and director made sure her voice was heard by all "little girls" out there who struggle with life from many fronts. She lets her audience know that she is looking over them. She loves them and sees them."

She ended with the words, "And you deserve every good thing in this world."