Have you ever seen a photo of Halle Berry with her mother? Her mom is a perfectly attractive 60-something woman, who was likely even more attractive in her youth. She’s just fine looking. She looks like someone you or I might know in real life – maybe as your favorite nurse at your doctor’s office, or your child’s sweet second grade teacher.
Then there is Halle Berry, arguably the most physically beautiful female human on the planet.
I don’t know about you, but when I look at Halle and her mama, I have to wonder; what cosmic confluence of genes came together to allow this perfectly ordinary looking person to produce this perfectly extraordinary looking child? And while Halle Berry and her mother offer a very public example of this phenomenon, I see it in people I actually know, as well. Including myself.
I know, I know…everyone thinks their children are gorgeous. And I am no exception; my children are to me, of course, the loveliest creatures I’ve ever laid eyes on. But objectively speaking, they are also just a lot better looking than their very ordinary parents. We definitely have some of the Halle Berry Phenomenon going on in our family’s gene pool.
Let’s take my 13 year old daughter, for example. The child was born looking like far more exotically attractive than either of her parents. In fact, she looks exactly nothing like me. I might as well have been her surrogate mother, and simply carried her around for nine months for some other woman – perhaps a Brazilian supermodel - so little does she resemble me.
I am a thoroughly unremarkable looking white American – straight blond hair that went brown by adolescence; skin that tends to fry in the sun; blue eyes that require glasses; and features that you run across about 100 times a day. I clean up well, but no one is ever going to suggest that I try out for America’s Next Top Model.
Then there is my daughter J., who was born with a head full of thick, nearly black hair, giant brown eyes with eyelashes to there, lips that suggest paternity by Mick Jagger, and the loveliest olive – almost cocoa- brown skin you can imagine. Her father – who is half-French – is also dark, and she certainly does look like him, but the simple fact is, this kid is about 100 times better looking than either of the people who created her. In fact, she looks so little like me that on several occasions when she was riding around on my hip as a baby or toddler, people straight-up came out and asked me if she was adopted. Once someone asked me if I was “the nanny.” No, just the proud mama, a bit baffled by my ability to produce such an exotic looking little creature.
On Saturday night, I was at a very fun, child-free Christmas party at the house of some friends, and after one or two oversized glasses of wine, I was trying to explain this somewhat rare Halle Berry Phenomenon to the host, an old pal of mine dating back to college days, because I see it in his family, too. He and his wife are among the most accomplished, kind, interesting people I know, and they are a very physically attractive couple. But their two kids? My God, they are just amazing looking. Their elementary-age son and daughter are just remarkably pretty children. So I was trying to explain this, but I’m afraid my thoughts on the matter came out as a semi-insult, with the implication that he and his wife aren’t very good looking. But that wasn’t what I was getting at at all. They certainly are fine looking folks. But their children got the best of both of them, and look like they should be starring in a Vanity Fair ad for Ralph Lauren children’s wear. They’re knockouts.
Most people reproduce fairly true to type. But every once in a while, you do run across rather ordinary-looking parents who somehow managed to out-do themselves with their babymaking, giving birth to a child who just kicks their family gene pool up a notch in the looks department. Of course, as I always tell my daughter, pretty is as pretty does, and I am far prouder of her when she shows kindness or empathy or love toward others than I am of her looks. But I do have to admit that I still have moments when I look at her and silently wonder, how in the world did I ever end up with a child who looks like that?
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You know, I see your point, but I think that Halle Berry looks quite a bit like her mom. Look at her mother’s cheekbones, the nose, the shape of the lips and eyes. I bet she was gorgeous in her day.
halle berry had a little surgical help. just sayin’.
My sister is like that. Both of our parents are stocky, long torsoed and short legged. Our mother is 5’2″, slightly olive tinted, round faced, and straight haired. Our dad is 6’6″, pale and freckly, wavy haired. My sister is 5’9″ with longer legs than our dad (37 inch inseam on that girl!), bronze skin, huge brown eyes, and perfectly curly hair. She’s got big banana curls without effort, perfect teeth, and near flawless skin. No one is quite sure where she comes from. I look a lot like both of my parents: stocky, short legged, round-faced, and pale. My sister is just gorgeous, several inches taller than me, and five years younger. People assumed she was my babysitter when I was a teenager and she was about ten. It’s a good thing I love her!
We have that going here.
I have no idea how it happended.
I’m a regular looking person, biggish nose, dark hair, Jewish/mediterranean looking! Always fighting being overweight, I am tall, 5’7″.
My husband has red hair, and Irish 6’2″ need i say more ;o
Well we mixed pure Irish and Jewish and created a daughter who has been pestered by everyone to be a fashion model since she is 12 yrs old, she was 5’8 at puberty (she is now 5’10) extremely slender by nature, big bright blue eyes and long perfectly straight blond hair with a small button nose, and poised, calm reserved demeanor (unlike me or her dad) that we have no idea where any of it came from.
Agents have pursued her in the streets of NYC since she is 12 yr old. She has always been completely uninterested in the shallowness of beauty. She is the most unlikely candidate to ever be a fashion model, she has always had the personality of a beautiful wild foal who would never do that.
I get what you’re saying, but Halley isn’t really the best example. I’ve seen old pictures that tell another story than the one she presents today.
Another thing to consider-some of us looked considerably better before we had kids. I’m sure people have looked at me and wondered what my husband is doing with me. Our levels of attractiveness were much closer pre-kids. If someone were to judge based on how I look right now, they might conclude my kids are adopted. Having children has taken it’s toll on both my body and in subtle ways my face. I can’t put a finger on exactly what it is, but my face is different now. I”ve seen this with other parents around the schoolyard as well…..sometimes it’s not that parent and child don’t look alike, it’s that the parent’s looks have temporarily or permanantly changed as a result of having kids.
I think there’s a lot of truth in what saj mom is saying… Also, bear in mind that when you compare a young, fresh-face individual to one that’s lived and aged just a tiny bit, of course the older person is often looking less than their best…
And I’ve also seen the contrary quite a bit: very good-looking parents with average children…
Marie Eve, you are so right. Lena Horne’s daughter is very average looking. Of course, her father was no beauty.
Halle Berry is beautiful, but she has very clearly had some plastic surgery and I thought most people were aware of this… Doesn’t discount from how gorgeous she is, in my opinion, but means she is perhaps not the best example of average parents/stunning child phenomenon. Also, I happen to think her mother is very attractive. Finally, I am not sure it is possile to objective aout how pretty one’s own children are–I happen to think my girls are exquisite, but I know plenty of people who feel the same way about their children and all I see is plain and average–so maybe mine are plain and average too, and I just view them with rose-colored glasses (which I am all too happy to do).
Yeah, I don’t think Halle Berry and her mom are a good example of this phenomenon. It’s true that the genetic dice can roll up in some unexpected ways, but Berry’s mother has excellent bone structure, a fine nose and a well-proportioned face. I bet she was just beautiful when she was younger. But she’s in her sixties now and slightly overweight, so there you go. I’d like to see what Halle would look like with 25 more years and 25 more pounds on her.