Halle Berry's Approach to Motherhood Is Refreshingly Relaxed

"I just want them to be them. There's no spin on it."

Halle Berry may be a fiercely protective mother, but controlling she is not.

In her latest film, Never Let Go, Berry plays a mother on a mission to keep her twin sons safe in a post-apocalyptic world. Discussing her role at a roundtable in New York City, as reported by People, Berry revealed that, though her character's reality is vastly different from her own, she took a lot of inspiration from her own experiences of motherhood.

"I am pretty mama bear, but I don't think I'm too mama bear, because I really, really, really understand that I'm just the vessel to bring these kids here," said the mother of Nahla Ariela, 16, and Maceo-Robert, 10.

While she does "fight for them," she also wants them to find their own way in life—even if that means making choices she wouldn't make herself.

"I don't expect them to be clones of me, do what I do," she explained. "I don't expect to really influence who they become. My job is to just hold space for them and nurture them, feed them, take care of them, provide them different opportunities, but then they have to decide for themselves."

She added that she "can't wait until they grow up and have their own life and I can't wait to see who they'll become and what they'll do. And even if it's not what I want them to do — I don't even know. I just want them to be them. There's no spin on it."

She concluded: "Anything they do will make me proud as long as they do it. I don't want them to stay home and stay stuck to me. I don't want them to depend on me," she said. "I hope I'm infusing them with enough gumption and giving them enough tools to out into the world and make their own way. Whatever that is, I'm going to be proud."

Berry has made strong mom energy a central theme of her press tour for Never Let Go. Earlier this week, she attended a premiere of the film wearing a statuesque golden gown that symbolized "female strength." She also took to Instagram to share an empowering quote about "mommas": "A protector who loves unconditionally, the maker and keeper of precious memories, a soul who gives everything for her children," she wrote.

But though Berry may seem like the perfect, hands-off (or at least hands-off-just-the-right-amount) mom, even she makes the odd mom mistake. As she recently revealed to E! News, she brought her daughter to a screening of her upcoming film—and it didn't exactly end well. "My daughter went to the screening and I stupidly thought she could handle it," Berry said. "It was one of my dumb mom moments. She left crying! She was like, 'Mom, what made you think I wanted to see you like that?' She's 16 now. I thought she was old enough, but it was a dumb mom moment!"

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