Berry reveals her chatroom secret

By Peter Bowes
BBC News, Los Angeles

Halle Berry goes undercover for her latest film role

Film star Halle Berry has revealed she anonymously joined internet chatrooms to escape her famous persona.

"I have gone online before in search of anonymity and an attempt to leave celebrity out of it and just have a normal chat," the actress told the BBC.

"I just never disclosed that I was Halle Berry." But people she chatted with did not believe her when she revealed her true identity, she said.

Her online friends thought she was "just some kook", the actress said.

"I was just trying to chat anonymously and just be another person in the chatroom having a conversation," Berry said.

"When I decided to say: 'Oh by the way, the person you've been chatting with for a week is me, Halle Berry,' they thought I was just some kook.

"They were like: 'Right, sure, get out of here.' They didn't really believe me at that point. So chatting hasn't gone that well for me."

Sometimes it would be really nice to just go to the market and not have to worry about being followed Halle Berry

The Oscar-winning actress stars alongside Bruce Willis as an investigative reporter in new thriller Perfect Stranger.

Berry, who receives constant tabloid attention, was quick to dismiss any suggestion that she was a "twisted deviant" on the internet, posing as someone else.

Disappointed that online anonymity failed to provide her with some sort of refuge, the actress said she was frustrated that her life was available for "public consumption".

"Sometimes it would be really nice to just go to the market and not have to worry about being followed there. But to go there and have some feeling of having a private life," she said.

Berry teams up with Bruce Willis in Perfect Stranger

Intimate details of Berry's private life were revealed recently. Parade magazine published an interview with the actress in which she discussed how she attempted to take her own life in 1997.

Berry reacted angrily to the article, which she said had been "regurgitated" from an interview years ago.

But while the actress would prefer not to revisit that dark time in her life, she believes celebrities should not shy away from opening up about their problems.

"I thought early on, if I could help shed some light on a situation and let people know that we, the people that you so admire, are just like you," she said.

"We have bad days and good days. We are struggling to get life right."