Halle Berry thanked Adele and Jennifer Garner for helping her in the fight to pass a bill banning paparazzi harassment, which was signed in California Tuesday
Halle Berry thanked Adele and Jennifer Garner for helping her in the fight to pass a bill banning paparazzi harassment, which was signed in California Tuesday.
The bill, which is meant to deter paparazzi from getting too close to celebrity chidren, was passed in California yesterday, signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown.
Halle has spent much of her summer petitioning for Senate Bill 606, which was sponsored by California state senator Kevin de León, and testified on behalf of it with fellow celebrity mum Jennifer Garner in August.
At the hearing, both stars got emotional as they described how their children were afraid to go to school and told stories of paparazzi following their every move in a desperate bid to get a cash-cow photo.
The bill clarifies the legal definition of harassment - which includes 'conduct in the course of the actual or attempted recording of children's images and/or voices, without express parental consent, by following their activities or lying in wait' - and increases penalties for harassment of celebrity children.
Paparazzi who are convicted of harassing a minor can now spend up to a year in jail and receive fines of up to $30,000 for multiple violations.
Oscar winner Halle thanked fellow parents Adele and Garner in the following statement:
'I am forever in awe of the support I got within my community from the enormously talented musician Adele to fellow actor Jennifer Garner who travelled with me to Sacramento to share her children's stories, experience and her desire to give them a better life.'
Halle also expressed her gratitude to Governor Brown who 'has recognised, and acted to remedy, the plight of children who are tormented because of the identity or prominence of their parents. On behalf of my children, it is my hope that this is the beginning of the end for those overly aggressive paparazzi whose outrageous conduct has caused so much trauma and emotional distress.'
This good news is particularly timely - Halle is expecting her second child imminently.
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