Bond girl Halle Berry - `being a mum will help my career`

Bond girl Halle Berry expects her newfound motherhood to boost her chances of landing more Oscar-winning roles - because having a baby has killed off her sex symbol status.

Despite picking up a Academy Award for Monster's Ball in 2002, Berry claims pre-pregnancy, her career was held back by her reputation as a big screen beauty.

And now she is a mother to two-month-old Nahla with model Gabriel Aubry, Berry is counting on more edgy movie offers. She says, "I feel having a baby will open up a whole new world for me. I think I'll actually find better roles, because I've gotten past being the ingenue and sex symbol."

But studio bosses will have to get used to a harder-to-come-by Berry - she plans to take much longer gaps between jobs, so she can be a proper mother.

The 41-year-old adds, "I'm definitely going to work less. I used to put so much pressure on myself to succeed that it often made me very unhappy in my personal life. I felt on the verge of burning out three or four years ago."

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