Halle Berry is looking forward to being valued for more than her looks as she gets older.
The 58-year-old actress - who has daughter Nahla, 16, and son Maceo, 10, from previous relationships - isn't worried about her beauty starting to fade because praise for her appearance has always been a "hollow win" as she believes she has so much more to offer the world.
She told America's Marie Claire magazine: “I’ve always known that I’ve been more than this face and more than this body.
“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.
“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.
“I do have everything to do with the kind of mother that I am, the kind of partner that I’ve been, the movies that I’ve been a part of, the acting accolades I’ve garnered over the years, 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.”
The 'Bruised' star - who is in a relationship with 54-year-old musician Van Hunt - believes women are judged much more unfairly than women and vowed to fight against ageism.
She added: "Age is just a number that they stick on us at birth.
"As women, we get defined by it way more than men do and sometimes it can debilitate us. It can trick us into thinking what we’re supposed to do.
"We have to kick that in the face and say, no, I’m going to do what I can do as long as I feel good doing it! And that will be whatever I want it to be. I get to define that."
As she has got older, Halle has grown in confidence and no longer feels she has to impress people.
She said: “I’m now usually one of the oldest people in every room I walk in and that’s a good feeling.
“I don’t have to be the dancing bear. I don’t have to worry about appeasing everybody in the room, or care about everybody else’s egos, or their insecurities, or give them what they’re wanting from me if it’s not what I’m wanting to give them.
"My daughter says, ‘don’t ask mom, because she’s got no f**** to give. Don’t ask her unless you want the answer for real.’”
BANG Showbiz