Halle Berry forced to change Cannes dress after film festival bans nudity
Halle Berry has probably never been told to put more clothes on until the Cannes Film Festival 2025.
The Oscar winner, 58, was forced to do a last-minute outfit change — or risk being turned away from this year’s festival.
The “Monster’s Ball” actress wore a beautiful black-and-white striped halter dress for the event’s opening night gala Tuesday, but it wasn’t her first choice.
Berry shared that she had a different gown in mind; however, after the festival organizers issued a , which includes “no full nudity” or “excessively voluminous” clothing, she had to come up with Plan B.
“I had an amazing dress by Gupta that I cannot wear tonight because it’s too big of a train,” Berry said ahead of opening night. “I’m not going to break the rules.”
She also touched on the no nudity regulation, noting that she doesn’t have an issue with it.
“The nudity part is also probably a good rule,” she concluded.
The “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum” actress is part of the Cannes Film Festival’s 2025 competition jury. Other jurors include “Succession” star Jeremy Strong, South Korean filmmaker Hong Sang-soo, Italian actress Alba Rohrwacher, “All We Imagine as Light” director Payal Kapadia, French-Moroccan writer Leïla Slimani, Congolese documentarist Dieudo Hamadi and Mexican filmmaker Carlos Reygadas.
Juliette Binoche is the president and will oversee this year’s jury.
Cannes Film Festival organizers issued a statement about the new dress code only one day ahead of the festivities, revealing stricter rules.
“This year, the Cannes Film Festival has made explicit in its charter certain rules that have long been in effect. The aim is not to regulate attire per se, but to prohibit full nudity on the red carpet, in accordance with the institutional framework of the event and French law,” read the new instructions.
Organizers also made it clear that they will enforce the restrictions, adding that the festival “reserves the right to deny access to individuals whose attire could obstruct the movement of other guests or complicate seating arrangements in the screening rooms.”
While no additional details were provided, it’s likely the Cannes Film Festival wants to avoid an issue like 2022 — or even this year’s Grammy Awards, when Kanye West’s wife Bianca Censori went fully nude on the red carpet.
In 2022, a demonstrator appeared topless on the Cannes red carpet.
Censori, 30, famously pushed the limits when she rocked a completely transparent dress without a bra or underwear on music’s biggest night.
The Post’s film critic Johnny Oleksinski called the new dress code “hilariously hypocritical,” noting that the Cannes Film Festival has even showed hardcore porn in the past.
Berry isn’t letting the restrictions get her down, though, especially after her recent action-packed night with her boyfriend, Van Hunt.
The “Never Let Go” star made minds wander when she shared a naked video of herself lying in bed with Hunt.
Berry held up a tube of Let’s Spin intimacy gel from her Respin sexual health brand and teased that she was ending Mother’s Day with a bang in the bedroom.
Berry and Hunt started dating in 2020 during the pandemic, and their relationship has been heating up since.
Before Hunt, the actress was married to Olivier Martinez from 2013 to 2016. The exes have son Maceo, 11, and went through that ended in 2023.
Berry has a daughter, Nahla, whom she had with her longtime ex, Gabriel Aubry. The two never married, but they dated for five years until 2010. The actress also said “I do” to Eric Benét and David Justice.
