Halle Berry is still among the highest earners for Black actresses in Hollywood. She’s racked up an estimated net worth of $90 million, thanks to roles in box office hits like “Die Another Day” and “X-Men” as well as endorsement deals and TV series such as “Extant” over the years.
Inside her Fortune
The bulk of Berry’s fortune comes from her film projects. Although she had been working in Hollywood for several years, it wasn’t until 1996 that she landed her first $1 million paycheck. It was for the film “Executive Decision.” By 2004, she got her largest single-film paycheck — $14 million — to star in a new version of “Catwoman.” Since that time, she has earned between $10 million and $12 million per major movie role.
In 2022, she stared in “Moonfall,” and she’ll be in 2023’s “The Mothership” and “John Wick: Chapter 4.”
She also has landed endorsement deals. Since 1996, she has been representing Revlon. She went from earning $3 million to $5 million when she renewed her contract in 2004. There is no confirmation on how much she earns today from the cosmetic giant.
In August 2022, it was announced Berry became an investor in canned wine brand Bev, which is a female-founded company launched in 2017 by female Alix Peabody.
The brand currently produces five zero sugar canned wines.
“As an entrepreneur, it’s important for me to invest in companies that share my values and are utilizing their platforms to drive real change,” Berry said in a statement. “Having faced so much adversity as a Black woman in Hollywood, I love that Bev is on a mission to break the glass ceiling and is promoting female empowerment in business and beyond.”
While Berry has been steadily growing her net worth, there has been at least one publicly known hit to her fortune. For nearly a decade, she had been making $16,000 monthly child support payments to her ex-boyfriend Gabriel Aubry, with whom she shares a child, Nahla, 13. Up until 2021, she was paying a whopping $16,000 a month for nearly 10 years. That is $192,000 annually for nearly a decade. Last year, the court cut the payment in half to $8,000.
Fight Played out in Social Media
Berry’s vocal take on social media regarding her growing tired of making child support payments to her ex-boyfriend and the father of her firstborn may have played a role in a judge’s decision to reduce the payments.
Although Aubry and Berry have been split for over a decade, they were still battling in court. However, things looked up for the Oscar Award-winning actress when her monthly payments in child support got reduced to $8,000.
Behind the Battle
Berry complained to the court that she thought Aubry was living off her wealth and refused to find work. She has publicly called him “lazy.”
“Women don’t owe you sh*t,” is what Berry posted on Instagram in 2021, as she continued to support the 44-year-old model.
She compared having to pay him to “extortion.”
“I understand some parents (man or woman) may need help, but I also feel in these modern times both men and women have the responsibility to financially take care of their children and work hard and make every effort to do so,” she said. “The way many laws are set up, people are allowed to USE children in order to be awarded money to live a lifestyle that not only did they not earn, but that is way above and beyond the child’s reasonable needs, and that is ‘THE WRONG’ and where I see the abuse.”
She continued, “I can say I’m living it everyday and I can tell you it’s hard. I do totally understand the feelings of those men who feel they are and have been taken advantage of by the system,” she said.
Child Support Details
In 2014, Los Angeles Superior Court ruled Berry must pay monthly child support of $16,000, including a retroactive payment of $115,000 and a sum of $300,000 for Aubry’s attorney fees.
Berry wanted the court to grant Aubry $3,000 per month in child support; the $16,000-per-month judgment was based on her 2012 income.
In 2012, Berry reportedly made $4.7 million during the first nine months. She also made it known she wanted to relocate to France with then-6-year-old Nahla, of whom Berry and Aubry have 50-50 joint custody, and then-fiancé Olivier Martinez, E! reported.
Berry and Martinez, whom she married (and later divorced), share a son, Maceo, who is currently seven.
Aubry, making less than $200,000 in 2012, blocked Berry’s request to leave the country.
It is also worth noting that in 2012, it was reported that Berry was paying 100 percent of Nahla’s private school tuition and 50 percent of the child’s medical expenses not covered by Berry’s family insurance plan.
Berry, 55, and Aubry, 44, were dating in 2006. The couple officially split in 2010. Berry is now in a relationship with R&B singer Van Hunt.
Additional reporting by Ann Brown
