Halle Berry seems like a woman who isn’t afraid of much; in 2013 she helped get a bill passed that would ensure the safety of celebrities and their children from paparazzi, and last year she took on a much-talked about television role–while pregnant herself–about an astronaut who heads into space only to come home pregnant. But recently the actress opened up about the fear she felt as a child living in an abusive home, and said that’s why she felt compelled to work with the Jenesse Center–a domestic violence intervention center–in Los Angeles.

“I’m a victim of domestic violence. I wasn’t married to a man that beat me up, but my mother was. Knowing that she wanted nothing more then for her little girls to see her be empowered and be a woman of strength, but having no way to make that happen was heartbreaking for me,” Berry said.

Berry shared some of the horrific moments she watched her mother endure, such as being kicked down the stairs and hit on the head with a bottle, and said she knew her mom stayed too long in the relationship. For Berry and her sister, having to witness the abuse was life-altering.

“The reason I say this organization is my heart and soul is because I understand the good that it does and the lives that it changes and the impact it has on women and the children in our community,” Berry said.

Berry says that becoming a mother herself changed her in a lot of ways, and that being pregnant when she took on a new project with Extant actually helped her.

“I’m the happiest in my life when I have been pregnant, truly. So to be pregnant again on a show right after giving birth didn’t scare me at all. I thought, ‘I’m going to ace that part of this, for sure!’ ” Halle Berry said.