“It didn’t derail me because I’ve fought as a Black woman my whole life. A little bad publicity about a movie? I didn’t love it, but it wasn’t going to stop my world or derail me from doing what I love to do.

… Growing up as a Black woman, that’s two strikes against you. There’s an innate resilience. I hated that it got all put on me, and I hate that, to this day, it’s my failure. I know I can carry it. I still have a career 20 years later. It’s just part of my story. That’s okay, and I’ve carried other failures and successes. People have opinions, and sometimes they’re louder than others. You just have to keep moving,” she said.

Halle went on to make her mark on the superhero genre as Storm in X-Men: The Last Stand. And, of course, she’s had a fabulous career, appearing in everything from thrillers like Perfect Stranger to gritty dramas like Bruised (which she also directed!).

Halle did indeed persevere, returning to the superhero genre as Storm in X-Men: The Last Stand, making her directorial debut with Bruised, and joining the John Wick universe. But while her career wasn’t ruined, she never quite regained that same level of box-office clout she had in the early ’00s.