Halle Berry opens up about her childhood trauma

In an interview, Halle Berry has made a startling admission about her childhood.

The actress bared her early days trauma to CNN's Alina Cho as part of her special, Big Stars, Big Giving.

"I think I've spent my adult life dealing with the sense of low self-esteem that sort of implanted in me. Somehow I felt not worthy, " the New York Post quoted her as saying.

Berry described how her crusade to help domestic violence victims comes from watching her mother being abused by her late father.

She wondered, terrified, "If I would get beat up, if I would get kicked down the stairs . . . before I'm Halle Berry, I'm little Halle who was a little girl growing in this environment that damaged me in some ways, and I've spent my adult life trying to really heal from that."

Asked if she's made any wrong choices in partners, she said, "As a result of my early years and some other choices my mother made. Choices that, you know, we often repeat what is taught us. So it is my job to . . . change the legacy."