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Halle Berry: “My Surprise Pregnancy” Was a “Constant Challenge” on X-Men Set

Halle Berry in Brentwood, California on August 4, 2013
Halle Berry says her surprise second pregnancy was a "constant challenge" while filming X-Men: Days of Future Past

Halle Berry wasn't about to let a little thing like pregnancy keep her from reprising her role as Storm in the upcoming blockbuster X-Men: Days of Future Past. But going to work on the comic book flick wasn't without its challenges.

"I wasn't in [the movie] as much as I was meant to be," the 46-year-old actress tells U.K.-based magazine Total Film. "[Pregnancy] kind of colored what my involvement could be, which was why I was one of the first ones in and the first ones out."

Related: PHOTOS: Halle's second pregnancy

Among the obstacles she faced was her rapidly changing figure. "My ever-growing belly was posing a constant challenge!" she says. "What I could do was getting more limited, so the role I play is so different from what it could have been, due to my surprise pregnancy."

Related: PHOTOS: Halle's incredible body through the years

It helped, though, that she was in tip-top shape. "There's no secret, I've just lived a healthy lifestyle," she tells Total Film. "I only work out like three times a week, 30 minutes a pop. That and good clean living. As I'm getting older it's just paying off."

Another perk that comes with age? Wisdom. Berry — expecting her second child, her first with new husband Olivier Martinez — says she's learned over the years to have a better work-life balance.

Related: PHOTOS: Halle's sexy style

"As I've grown older I've really learned, out of necessity, the importance of leaving work at work. Bringing home half of the things that I get asked to do in the film world is really detrimental to my private life — especially now that I have children," she explains. (The star is already a mother to daughter Nahla, 5, with ex-boyfriend Gabriel Aubry.) "I have to come home and I have to be mom, and I have to be the same person I was when I left."

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