SUBMITTED BY Timbo

November 13, 2003 — Halle Berry, taking a break from her work on Catwoman, talked to USA Today about how her real-life experiences with emotional trauma informed her performance in "Gothika".

While shooting Gothika, Berry routinely sought her mother's advice on the technicalities of institutionalization. As a result, Berry had a scene in which her character is slapped by her psychiatrist (played by Robert Downey Jr.) cut from the film. "She helped bring some honesty to a story that is so far-fetched in some ways," Berry says.

"Far-fetched" is not a term Berry would necessarily apply to the supernatural elements of the film, in which ghostly visitors appear to both guide and terrorize her character. "I believe," she says of the supernatural. Unexplainable sounds and touches she experienced over a three-month period while filming her Golden Globe and Emmy-winning performance in Introducing Dorothy Dandridge opened her mind to the unknown. And years ago, Berry visited a medium who told her that she was surrounded by an unusual amount of angels and spirits guiding her through life.

"Apparently, they know I need more help than others," she jokes.

There have been times in Berry's life when she has felt on the brink of insanity. "Many times," she clarifies. "Sometimes heavy things; sometimes silly moments in life when you think, 'OK, I've got to be losing it.' I swear that I've lost my memory ... you know, I've had too much aspartame, because I swear I just cannot remember things like I used to  dates and details."

Read the full interview now at the link below.