Halle Berry and Jennifer Garner both gave emotional and chilling testimonies in support of a bill to change the definition of harassment yesterday so they can protect their children from paparazzi.
Both Berry and Garner accept that they chose to be in the public eye but maintain, rightly so, that their children are 'private citizens' who are repeatedly traumatized by paps chasing them. with Garner telling the Assembly Judiciary Committee: 'I chose a public life … [but] my three children are private citizens. I love my kids. They’re beautiful and sweet and innocent, and I don’t want a gang of shouting, arguing, lawbreaking photographers who camp out everywhere we are all day every day to continue traumatizing my kids.'
Berry also described her daughter Nahla's experiences, and one horrifying one in particular that happened when she was in the middle of a custody battle with Nahla's father Gabriel Aubry. 'How do you feel, Nahla? You may not see your father again. How do you feel about that?'” Berry said they would ask her child. 'They say curse words and call me names, all trying to provoke some sort of response to sell a photograph.'
Berry said that Nahla was then afraid to go to pre-school because they would be followed everywhere they went and that she would ask her 'Why did they say that to me, mommy? What does that mean? Who are these men and why are they following us?'. 'We aren’t just whiny celebrities... We’re moms who are just trying to protect our children.'
The proposed bill seeks the ability to impose fines upon paparazzi or other person who 'seriously alarms, annoys, torments or terrorizes' a child, and passed through this stage of the proceedings, with the chairman telling Berry, who's birthday is today, 'I hope this is a nice gift to you from this committee.'
