Halle Berry reveals shocking living arrangements during start of career

Halle Berry once had to share a one-bedroom apartment with over a dozen aspiring models all sleeping on bean bag chairs.

On Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, the Oscar-winning actress, 58, opened up about her humble beginnings, sharing how her modelling career began after a beauty pageant organiser encouraged her to move to Illinois for work.

“She said, ‘Come to Chicago, I’ll hook you up with modelling, and [you’ll] make a bag of cash,’” Berry recalled. But things didn’t turn out as glamorous as promised.

"She never told me it would be in a one-bedroom apartment with 15 other girls sleeping on the floor in bean bags,” the Never Let Go star explained, adding, "I had this idea of what it was gonna be, and then I realised, ‘Oh!’”

Shepard noted that Berry's story echoed many others about struggling actors and models.

"We’ve heard this story a few times," he said, referencing the less-than-glamorous start to fame.

After six months of cramped living conditions and a shared bathroom, Berry decided it was time for a change. She convinced one of the other girls to find their own place, and not long after, she landed her first acting role on Living Dolls, which eventually led to her breakout role in Spike Lee’s Jungle Fever.