THE AGE OF HALLE

She's one of the most recognizable faces in Hollywood. But as the actress nears 60, she's hoping you finally get a look at who she really is.

- LOLA OGUNNAIKE

Balmain top; Laquan Smith skirt; Givenchy ear cuff

On an impossibly picturesque afternoon in Southern California—the type that sun- soaked pop odes to languorous summers are made of—Halle Berry is tucked away in a pedigreed Los Angeles estate playing dress up for the pages of this magazine. She’s been on set since the morning, modeling look after look and jewels so pricey that two guards are here standing watch over the Bulgari and Cartier. When Berry descends in yet another drop-dead ensemble, sauntering down a winding staircase in a sheer lace Gucci sheath and feather-adorned stilettos, there are audible gasps. At 58—yes, you read that correctly, 58!— she’s still every bit the showstopper. And yet, Berry cares very little about turning heads anymore, which she makes abundantly clear during our time together.

“I’ve always known that I’ve been more than this face and more than this body” Berry tells me when we meet over lunch. “So, when that starts to go, maybe for the first time in my life, people will focus on the other aspects of me that I think are way more interesting.”

But what about the unmatched privileges that youth and beauty can bestow in a culture obsessed with both? Surely, she’ll miss that power, right?

No. That’s never defined her, Berry would like you to know. “It might feel good to have everybody look at you, but it’s always been a hollow win for me because I had nothing to do with how I came here looking,” she says. “I do have everything to do with the kind of mother that I am, the kind of partner that I’ve been, the movies I’ve been a part of, the acting accolades I’ve garnered, my charity work. I do take ownership over those things that I’ve worked really hard at, and if somebody finds value in those things, that lights me up.”